No Emotion
by Buffybot
Summary: Sakura has trained to be a medic nin and has joined Gai Sensei’s team. It was no trouble gaining acceptance from Lee and Tenten, but it was much more difficult with Neji. Sakura may think the hard part with Neji is over but it's only just beginning.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Contains spoilers up to episode 135 (Chapter 238 of the manga). After that it's AU. This fic will eventually be Neji/Sakura._

* * *

Chapter One

The stillness of the forest only served to increase Haruno Sakura's uneasiness and the hammering of her heart against her chest. She glanced at each of her teammates in turn, but their expressions betrayed nothing about the situation they were caught in. Neji's face was impassive as always, though from the amount of time she had spent training with him, was able to deduce from his eyes that he was formulating of a plan of attack in his head. Lee was the polar opposite of their mutual teammate. Fire burned behind his eyes at having to sit still while the last of the precious time they had left ticked away.

Sakura turned back to the person who had been occupying most of her attention since they had stopped to hide and regroup. Tenten's left leg had a deep gash, running from her knee up to her thigh. She had manipulated the chakra flow in Tenten's body to repair the damaged blood vessels and stop the bleeding. The wound itself was not life threatening and she had witnessed far worse during her training with Tsunade, but unless she healed it fully, the quickly repaired blood vessels would not hold if she had to fight.

"We're running out of time," said an impatient Lee. "The scroll has a timed explosion note on it. If we don't find it quickly all the information on it will be lost."

Neji regarded him carefully. "What would you have us do, Lee? Make a quick, unplanned attack and be ill-prepared for what the enemy will throw at us?"

"A quick, decisive strike would be more useful than hiding and contemplating what we should do next," Lee shot back.

"I've been pinning down their position," said Neji calmly. "They've stopped moving and are waiting to see what we will do next. If you had the ability to sense chakra you would be doing the same."

"Guys, stop," Sakura said to them both. Lee's eyes were narrowed dangerously at Neji who was wearing a placate smirk. She didn't know what had gotten into them lately. Since Tsunade had made Gai-Sensei's squad a four-man team, Lee and Neji, despite their differences functioned as a superior pair, and were able to trust each other's abilities on missions. But lately, Neji, who had passed the Jounin exam a few weeks earlier, seemed to be going out of his way to provoke Lee and the two of them were constantly battling about something.

The two of them seemed to obey her plea – for now – and focus on why they were in one of the many thickly foliaged forests of Leaf Village in the first place.

"Sakura," Neji began, "stay and heal Tenten. Lee and I will go ahead and get the scroll. Follow us quickly if you can, so that when the enemy moves from you'll attack from the blind spot."

Then he and Lee leapt to their feet and in seconds were gone.

* * *

Lee and Neji raced from tree branch to tree branch. It didn't take long before Neji was signaling for Lee to stop. The area was clear, but that didn't mean anything. Their opponents were lying in wait, staying hidden as long as possible.

"It's about time you caught up to us," a voice said, safely hidden from sight. "I was starting to think this task was beyond a Chuunin's ability to handle."

"As well as a Jounin's," a second voice mocked.

"We've known your position for awhile," Lee responded. "We thought we'd give you a chance to recover before we take back what's ours."

"Never show pity for your enemy. It will only get you killed," the second voice said.

"And never give away you position. It will only get you killed," said Neji, using his Byakugan to reveal where they were hiding. He reached into his back pouch and pulled out a set of shurikens which he threw effortlessly at the two seemingly empty bushes.

Two tall masked figures jumped out from where the shurikens had hit.

"You've run out of time," the closest figure to Neji said.

Neji just smirked as Lee disappeared behind him, only to reappear behind one of their enemies.

"You're the one who's out of time," Lee said confidently and then attacked.

He used his Leaf Spinning Wind move to try and take out his opponent's leg from behind. Though his enemy was caught off guard by the impulsive attack, he recovered quickly and caught Lee's kick. Lee lashed out with his other leg this time, which was blocked with ease.

With incredible speed, Lee struck his attacker in the face and when he stumbled from the force of the impact, loosened up on his grip just enough that Lee freed both his legs and kicked out with both, using his strength to send the man head first into the trunk of a tree.

Instead of a body slumping to the ground, a thick tree log appeared in its place and hit the forest floor.

Lee's eyes widened in shock_. Kawarimi no Jutsu?_

"Looking for this?" A voice said from behind him and Neji.

Both ninja's whirled around to see the real masked enemy holding a small scroll in his hand. "You're out of time,"

As the last words were said, the scroll erupted into a small ball of flames, which the man let fall to the ground.

"But we found something else you might be interested in," the other masked enemy spoke. He had Sakura and Tenten in front of them with a kunai pointed at each of their backs.

Both boys lips curled into a snarl but they wore the expressions of someone who had been so clearly outsmarted by the enemy.

"You got careless," Gai reprimanded them, removing his mask and pocketing the kunai's he had been holding against Tenten and Sakura's backs.

"Neji, you relied too heavily on your Byakugan," said the other masked figure, Kakashi. "We put enough chakra into our shadow clones that you would think they were the real thing, while slowing our own charka flow to remain hidden."

"If on a mission, as a team you decide to split up, strength should be evenly distributed. Tenten and Sakura were vulnerable and you left them because you were too concerned about retrieving the scroll," Gai continued. "If this were a real mission, I could have used both of them as hostages or worse."

"Sakura, what was the first rule of healing that Tsunade taught you?" Kakashi asked her.

Sakura lowered her head, knowing she had screwed up as badly as the others. "You can't help someone if you're dead."

"It seems like you forgot that today. Tenten was hurt, but not badly enough that you should have been so focused on her and not notice Gai's approach. If he were an enemy, he would have killed you without remorse." Kakashi sighed and scratched the back of his head. "It seems like teamwork is at an all time low these days. Perhaps Gai and I have been working you too hard."

It was true, since returning from their last mission in the Country of Fire three weeks earlier, they had been training non-stop. Sakura was observant enough to notice most of the other teams had been doing little else but training lately. It made her wonder if Konoha was expecting some kind of danger soon.

"Take tomorrow off," Kakashi told them. "On Tuesday morning, you'll meet with Tsunade and she'll give you your next mission."

"A day off?" Lee cried. "How can you tell us to relax after the way we failed today. We should be – "

"Lee," Gai interrupted gently. "Kakashi is right. You made mistakes today because you're all exhausted. Remember, even shinobi take days off," he finished, flashing his protégé a grin.

"Use your day off wisely," Kakashi advised. "Your next mission is important."

Sakura took her Sensei's words to heart. Kakashi was not one to exaggerate – except when it came to excuses for his lateness. But even knowing she had a mission coming up, would not cause her to take her day off lightly. She would still train, even if it was on her own because for the last two years training and missions seemed to be the only things she lived for anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two 

It was early still when Sakura ventured out onto the streets of Konoha. It had become part of her routine to leave her house at ungodly hours of the morning, that her parents had stopped asking where she was going. It might have been more accurate to say they had stopped caring. They had been so proud the day she had graduated from the ninja academy and was named a genin that it came as a shock when they had asked her a year later what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. By that time she had just begun her medical training with Tsunade and had expressed her desire to become a medic-nin.

Her parents had frowned on the idea. They had thought that after their daughter had failed the Chuunin exam the first time around, she would realize that shinobi life was not meant for a woman. They wanted her to grow up and have a proper life like them, get married and raise a family. In their eyes, the life of a shinobi was far too dangerous for their daughter.

It didn't take long for things to fall apart between her and her parents when it became clear she wasn't going to come around to their line of thinking.

She had understood then why shinobi saying number ninety-three existed – _A shinobi must have no emotional ties to distract him from his duties._ In that first year of being a Genin, she had managed to lose her family and two people who, however unlikely, had turned out to be her closest friends.

After that, she had devoted all of her time to training and missions. She had developed quickly under Tsunade's guidance, so much so that when Tsunade went to the village council again to request their be a medic-nin on each team, they had no choice but to comply once they had seen Sakura's abilities.

After the Genin teams were formed, the person who had the greatest potential was selected to take the medical training, which Tsunade personally taught herself twice a week.

When Sakura took the Chuunin exam again, she was far more prepared and skilled the second time around. As three-man teams were a requirement for the exam, she had been placed with Chouji and Ino. Needless to say, spending five days in the Forest of Death with Ino, had moved them from being on friendly terms to become the best of friends – but even now the two of them could still infuriate one another to no end.

Both she and Ino had passed, and Chouji would take it a third time before he was given the title of Chuunin. But with the exam over, she had no team to return to. Chouji and Ino would go back with Shikamaru and she would be left alone again.

Kakashi was gone on missions most of the time that she didn't even have him. The feeling of achieving the Chuunin level was diminished somewhat because she had no team to share it with. No one wanted to disrupt the bond and unity that the other teams had by adding another ninja, and four man teams were unheard of anyways.

But Tsunade, being the tradition breaking Hokage that she was, decided that in all cases there was room for the rules to be adapted to fit the situation at hand. She selected the team she felt would best handle an additional teammate. She also wanted to see how useful a medic-nin would be to a team in combat situations. She had chosen Gai-Sensei's team, and in the beginning Sakura had feared it would not work. She and Lee were already friends, but she hardly knew Neji or Tenten. She didn't know what kind of problems having a fourth person might cause.

Tsunade was prepared for everything. She had both Gai and Kakashi work with them, putting them through exhausting training scenarios that would benefit from the help of an additional person.

They quickly became a special project for Tsunade who seemed to be looking for Konoha's first elite team since the Legendary Sannin so many years ago. If a four-man team proved to have a lower mortality rate, she would also consider changing the formation of the teams that were put together out of the Academy from three to four with one medical expert on each team.

She got along with Tenten easily. The other girl was hardworking and dependable in any situation. When she had seen how strong Sakura was becoming in her training with Tsunade, Tenten had asked if Sakura would teach her the basics of healing and medicine. Now if they ever had to split up as a team, there would be at least one person knowledgeable about healing in each pair.

She had known it would be a lot tougher to gain acceptance from Neji. He would push her to the limit when they trained and studied her during missions to see how she would respond to different situations. When he eventually accepted the fact that she would not bring the team down, he had eased up on his scrutiny of her. She realized eventually that his actions had a lot to do with him wanting to protect his team. She wasn't sure she could call them friends, but she had followed Lee's example in teasing him on occasion because he was so easy to annoy.

As expected, Lee had been the one who had worked the hardest to help her fit in. She had quickly learned first hand how hard he worked. It wasn't long before she had soon joined Lee in his excessive training and it acted as a sort of therapy to help her forget about everything else in her life. She was so engrossed with training and missions that she was too tired at the end of the day to dwell on anything else – which was exactly what she wanted.

In a weak moment, she had even opened up to Lee up her parents and in turn had found out that him and his father rarely spoke. His family had been shinobi's for generations, and strong chakra users at that. His father had enrolled him in the Academy, hoping to bring out any latent talents but it didn't work and Lee's father had no use for a son who could not use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu techniques. It made sense to her now why Gai-Sensei and Lee were so close, almost like a father and son – even if it had been completely weird to witness their relationship back when she had first met them.

She was looking for Lee then. She knew that like her, he would be unable to spend today doing nothing. Without a doubt he would be putting himself through some kind of impossible challenge as a form of punishment for the failure of their training mission yesterday.

She also knew she wouldn't find him where the group typically trained together. Lee had his own spot in the Konoha forest where he liked to train alone. He had brought her there quite a few times, but she didn't like to intrude on what seemed to be a private place for him, so when it was just the two of them they usually trained somewhere closer to the village.

When she did find him, he was training as expected. He had recently become obsessed with the chakra tree climbing exercise. It was difficult enough for someone to focus enough chakra to their feet, that for someone without this ability it should have been impossible. But the words 'impossible' and 'Rock Lee' did not go together. He had taken the weights off that were normally strapped to his calves to give himself some extra speed. She could see from the marks made with his kunai he was making considerable progress.

She watched him take a significant running start before his foot came in contact with the tree trunk for the first time. He was able to gather up more speed once his foot was planted firmly and was able to propel his body up the trunk for a great distance before faltering and having no choice but to quickly mark a new line in the tree before leaping back to the ground.

He was breathing heavily and reached a hand up to wipe the sweat off his brow. That was when he noticed her standing there.

"Sakura-san," he greeted her in pleasant surprise.

"I thought Gai and Kakashi told us to take the day off," she teased, knowing full well Lee was incapable of sitting around doing nothing.

"Um, well, you know it's just a little light exercise," he said with a sheepish grin. He was silent for a moment, and was serious when he spoke next. "I'm sorry for yesterday. Neji and I should not have gotten so carried away with completing the exercise that we were willing to leave our teammates behind. That will never happen in a mission – that's a promise."

She could hear the regret in his voice, which was why she couldn't bring herself to tell him that was a promise he might not be able to keep. Chuunin took on a lot of B rank missions, and the occasionally A rank ones if Jounin weren't available. There was always the looming danger that something could go wrong and painful decisions would have to be made. Since Neji had been made a Jounin they would probably be handling much more serious missions.

"I made mistakes too," she said to him. "I shouldn't have been so wrapped up in healing Tenten that I cut myself off from sensing Gai-Sensei's presence. That was a Genin mistake."

Lee, not wanting to stay in self-recriminating mode any longer, because he would likely get stuck in an endless cycle of it, changed the subject. "Have you heard from Naruto-kun recently?"

Sakura shook her head. The last letter she had received from Naruto had been over three months ago. He was still training with Jiraiya, but had rarely mentioned what exactly the training was that he was doing and why it was forcing him to stay away for so long. She supposed it was because Jiraiya was worried about the letters being intercepted. But why their training was so secretive she didn't know. She wasn't even able to write Naruto back because he wouldn't tell her where he was.

She tried to make light of the situation. "He's been gone so long, I'm starting to think he'll be a pervert like Jiraiya when he comes back."

"Why did you come looking for me, Sakura-san?" Lee inquired.

"I wanted to see if you wanted someone to train with," she answered.

"I thought we were supposed to take the day off," he said with a raised eyebrow.

"It's just a little light exercise, right?" She said in return and Lee smiled.

She let him go back to his tree climbing exercise after that and began some exercises of her own. They trained in silence until Lee was satisfied for the moment with his tree climbing success. After that he asked if she wanted to test how far her hand-to-hand combat skills had come, and though she knew she couldn't beat him, accepted his challenge.

* * *

The next morning Sakura dragged her tired and aching body to see the Fifth Hokage. She had promised herself that she wouldn't let Lee drag her into the absurd and impossible challenges he would make for himself, but in the end she had and now she was paying for it. She had returned home well into the evening and had almost fallen asleep in the shower before finally climbing into bed. She had woken up at two in the morning starving at having not eaten anything since breakfast.

Now she was standing outside the Hokage's personal office, as the two Chuunin guards opened the door to allow her inside.

She was the last one of their group to show up. Well, that wasn't exactly true but since Kakashi was always notoriously late that didn't count.

Tsunade nodded to her in greeting as she joined Gai and her teammates.

"I'd wait for Kakashi, but since he may keep us waiting all morning, I'll go into the mission details now." Tsunade walked around to the front of her desk, not bothering to bring the mission book with her. "As you already know, Konoha has been in talks with the Sand for quite some time. Since their betrayal of Leaf Village three years ago, they've been working to regain our trust and form an alliance. Ultimately, we cannot be sure if this is the Hidden Village of Sand's true motives, but they have made every effort to make their wish for an alliance seem genuine. This could very well be because Konoha has the kind of armed forces and stable society they lack. To make the alliance final, the Kazekage will make the journey to Konoha to work out the final details and sign the treaty. Since, on a gesture of good faith the Sand have loaned us several of their shinobi for our own purposes, we will repay the gesture by having a team escort the Kazekage and his personal guards back here to Konoha.

"Your mission is to go to the Hidden Village of Sand and escort the Kazekage back here without incident. There is a small faction of the Sand that do not want to see a treaty between the two villages and would go to extreme measures to stop it from happening. Watch out for these enemies as you will likely confront them before you reach the Sand village. You will leave first thing tomorrow, so be prepared for a long journey. Gai and Kakashi are needed elsewhere, so you will be carrying out this mission on your own," she continued. Tsunade's gaze fell on Neji. "Neji, this will be your first mission as team leader. That is all. You're dismissed," she finished abruptly.

"Sakura, can you stay behind a moment?" Tsunade asked as the group turned to leave.

Sakura nodded, knowing the Hokage probably wanted an update on the handful of patients under her care at Konoha Hospital

Tsunade waited until she and Sakura were alone before speaking again. "There have been rumours that Uchiha Sasuke is in the Wind Country. Right now, you are the only one available who knows Sasuke better than anyone else. If he's there you'll be able to find him and bring him back using whatever means necessary. This is your secondary mission."

Sakura was filled with numb shock of hearing the possibility that she might see Sasuke soon.

"He'll likely longer resemble the person you once knew," Tsunade continued, "but he must be brought back to Konoha. With our forces finally going back to the numbers they were before Orochimaru's attack, we can no longer afford to have Sasuke at large. Sasuke is considered a missing-nin and we must know what contact he's had with Orochimaru. I do not want to believe he would betray Konoha but we have no way of knowing where his loyalties lie or what extent he would go to to gain power in order to carry out his mission of revenge.

The Hokage's features softened somewhat. "Sakura, I'm telling you first because I knew how this would affect you. I will let you be the one to tell the rest of your team about this – but you _must_ tell them. You'll be endangering their lives if you don't."

Even if Sakura had any protests about the mission – about what Tsunade was asking her to do, she couldn't find the words to voice them.

A cloud of white smoke appeared and then quickly vanished, revealing the form of Kakashi.

"Sorry, I'm late. This guy asked me to hold his place in line at the bookstore."

Sakura's customary cry of _liar!_ was nowhere to be found. She didn't even notice Kakashi standing there until Tsunade dismissed her a few minutes later.

* * *

Sakura hesitated before turning the handle and opening the door to her house. She almost laughed out loud at her actions. Her parents weren't going to care where she had been all day or ask why she looked upset. She would be lucky if they noticed her at all.

She sighed and leaned back against the door of her bedroom. What was wrong with her? Chuunin got sent on all kinds of difficult missions all the time that this shouldn't be any different – except that it was. Just the thought of running into Sasuke was almost too much to handle.

_Get a grip on yourself, Sakura, or the others will notice_, inner Sakura yelled at her. A shinobi is not supposed to show any emotion. That would be her mantra for getting through this mission. Sasuke had deserted her and Naruto, and she suspected Naruto's secret training had something to do with Sasuke. So in reality, Sasuke was the one responsible for tearing apart team seven. Then why, even after all that, was it so hard to hate him?

"Yo," said a smooth voice from her right.

"Kakashi-Sensei!" She cried, nearly jumping out of her skin she was so startled. "What were you thinking, sneaking up on me like that?"

He smiled at her from where he was crouched on the window ledge, but with his mask it was difficult to tell if it was apologetic or not.

"I was in the neighbourhood and thought I'd stop by," he explained.

"Liar," she accused. "You live on the other side of the village."

"Doesn't mean I can't drop by and check on one of my students."

"I'm your _only_ student," she said with more emotion then intended.

"Sakura, you aren't the first ninja that has been asked to do something they'd rather not do," he said, growing serious.

"Who said I didn't want to do this mission?" She snapped.

"It's in your eyes and the way you've cut yourself off from life since Sasuke left," he said sadly. "I know the reason you put so many hours into becoming a medic-nin and have trained excessively with Lee – so you're too exhausted to think or feel anything. Unlike Sasuke, you didn't have to runaway from this village to run away from yourself. I've lived through the same pain you have. Eventually it catches up to you and you have to confront it."

She had no response for her Sensei's words. It was strange how Kakashi who had been so busy with missions these last few years could still know her so well.

"You must tell the others about Sasuke," he urged her.

"How do you know I haven't already?" She challenged.

He said nothing, but his stance and exposed eye revealed he knew the truth.

She let her shoulders slump. "If they knew about Sasuke – they wouldn't trust me." What she really wanted to say was that Neji wouldn't trust her.

Kakashi turned so his back was facing her. "I'd have thought by now you would have learned to not be so quick to judge others."

Then he vanished, and she was left dreading the upcoming mission even more.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Nara Shikamaru yawned loudly. After spending the morning debriefing a group of Chuunins, and then having Lady Hokage waste his afternoon by prepping him for tomorrow's mission, all he wanted was to find his favourite rooftop spot and watch the clouds. Unfortunately, Lady Hokage seemed to enjoy giving him troublesome tasks to do. He was supposed to be helping construct a map for one of the missions into the Wind Country, but his partner seemed to prefer completing the task on her own.

Temari shot him an annoyed look. "Am I boring you?"

Shikamara cringed inwardly. Temari could be scarier than Ino when she was angry. "No. I just don't understand why Lady Hokage would want me to help design a map when you know all the paths to the Sand Village better than anyone."

"I know the layout of the land, but based on your last mission to the village you'll be able to point out any strategic spots that could prove advantageous in case of a confrontation."

Shikamaru chose not to respond. It sounded like a compliment, but with Temari – and women in general – he could never be sure of anything. A shinobi is supposed to read underneath the underneath, but with Temari you had to go even further than that. She could be pissed off with him one minute and the next be smiling like everything was fine.

"Which team is going to the Sand Village?" He asked her.

"That bowl-headed Jounin's team," she responded, not looking up from the map. "Hyuuga Neji has been named team leader for the mission.

_If it's strictly an escort mission it should be simple enough_, Shikamaru thought to himself. Plus, with a four-man team the responsibilities could be more evenly distributed and the chance of a successful mission rose by over forty percent.

He had heard there were some hostilities near the Sand border, but based on the mission reports he had read of Kakashi and Gai's team, they functioned well together and could get out of troublesome situations with minimum casualties.

"Have you told your friends about us?" Temari spoke suddenly.

Shikamaru was thrown by the question. It was Temari who had wanted to keep their relationship a secret, though it proved to be quite a hassle for both of them. "No, there would be too many annoying questions," he answered after a moment. Ino would probably declare him a Konoha traitor, and demand to know why he was involved with the enemy even when the Sand were well on their way to becoming allies with them once again. Chouji probably wouldn't care one way or the other. He would just want details most likely.

He wasn't even sure how things had got started with them to begin with. The Sand siblings had been on loan to Konoha as a gesture of good will for almost two years now. They would help Leaf Village out when injuries kept teams short a man or when an extra team was needed. Tsunade had given Shikamaru the responsibility of being the official liaison between Konoha and the Sand siblings. It was his job to fill them in on missions, clients, enemy engagement procedures and just about anything else the Hokage could think up. She had even gone so far as to have Shikamaru accompany them on the occasional mission in the beginning. Tsunade had wanted him to find out if the Sand were indeed as trustworthy as they appeared to be. In all of his early reports he had wrote that this seemed to be the case and once Tsunade was satisfied with, had let her investigation of the Sand siblings end.

It didn't take long for the Hokage to become aware of Temari's knowledge for strategic planning and had wasted no time in pairing her up with Shikamaru. They would map out missions together, hold briefings and lead their own raids as well – but it rarely ever went smoothly.

Temari constantly complained that his approach was far too defensive and laid back. He countered by saying her approach was hasty, and that it was pointless to engage the enemy before their strength could be assessed. _Man, what a pain she was – and still is – to work with_, he thought to himself. But somewhere down the line all the bickering and disagreements had created an attraction between them. He was sure he wouldn't call what they were doing a relationship, but he remembered the venomous look on Temari's face when Ino had hugged him to thank him for the birthday gift he had gotten her. He didn't dare ask if she was jealous of Ino. He was sure she would kick his ass if he did that.

But with the Kazekage coming to sign the new treaty, the Sand siblings duty to Konoha would end and Temari would return to her village. Shikamaru wasn't sure how he felt about that just yet.

"So… I guess you'll be leaving once the treaty is signed?" He said casually.

She stopped writing on the map, but didn't look at him. "Yes, it looks that way."

He was silent after that. In fact he didn't say another word until she finished with the map and gave it to him to look over. Even though there was something between him and Temari, all this extra work was proving to be quite a hassle.

* * *

It took almost a day to reach the border of the Fire Country. From that point on, the wind and terrain would become much more harsh as they pushed towards the Wind Country.

Sakura's team paused briefly to throw on the cloaks Temari had given them, which would provide protection against the unyielding winds and frequent sandstorms.

Neji had them following the set up that had worked well for them most times in the past when they had gone on missions without Kakashi or Gai. As leader, he was in front, with her following behind him, followed by Tenten, who provided a strong force in the middle, and finally, Lee bringing up the rear to guard them from behind.

When the howling winds picked up, talking was avoided except when necessary. That was why Sakura was surprised when Neji slowed his pace and fell into step beside her.

"You're troubled about the mission," he said matter-of-factly. His voice wasn't quite loud enough to carry back to the others.

Sakura kept her gaze straight ahead, fearing she might give too much away with one look. She hated when he would use his Byakugan to read her. It was creepy how he could take one look at her and know exactly what was going on in her head, even when she took great care to keep it from showing up on her face.

"Aren't you? We're crossing into unknown territory."

"No, it's more than that," he stated confidently, letting his eyes close briefly.

She didn't try to deny his statement but she didn't offer up any explanation either. Neji didn't prod any more after that and she fell back into place behind him.

He had given her the opening she needed to tell the others about Sasuke, but her insecurities had taken over and she couldn't reveal Tsunade's separate instructions to her. After all, the reports that came in about Sasuke's whereabouts were few and far between and more times than not turned out to be dead ends. There was a good chance they would complete their mission and find no evidence that he was even there.

By now, most people who knew her avoided saying his name in her presence. After spending the first three months praying every night that he would return, she had given up any hope that he would come back and somewhere along the way she decided she didn't want him to. He had chosen revenge over her and that wasn't something she could easily forget.

"Sakura."

She heard the warning in Neji's voice and stopped immediately. Neji signaled to Lee and Tenten to stop as well.

"What is it?" Tenten asked him.

"That sand dune we're heading for – the formation isn't natural," he said to them. "The wind is blowing the sand up from everywhere, yet the sand there remains unaffected.

"A trap," Sakura stated in understanding. "Can we avoid it?"

"According to Temari's map, this is the quickest route to the village. If we go around it will take longer," Tenten told her. "She didn't go into too much detail with these other routes either. We'd basically be going in blind."

To walk into an obvious trap would be beyond stupid, and after witnessing some of the ambush techniques the Sand were capable of, the safest course of action would be to go around. If they didn't stray too far from the map they had, they would probably not lose too much time in the process, but it was the not knowing what lay waiting for them that Sakura didn't like. This close to sunset the desert predators would be coming out to hunt and once nightfall came, the temperature would drop drastically.

"I believe the trap is unavoidable," came Lee's voice.

The others turned to see him posed in a fighting stance, as the sand in front of him several meters away began to shake violently. Soon patches of sand all around them began doing the same thing, before eight or so dark figures shot up from them, forming a closed circle around the group.

Neji frowned at the obvious deception. The unmoving sand wasn't the trap – it was the bait. While a traveling group saw it and contemplated whether or not to go around it gave these attackers time to move into place and shoot up from beneath the ground, effectively surrounding the unsuspecting travelers.

The enemies' features remained hidden behind masks the same colour as the sand. The cloaks were tattered and worn, a sign of having seen too many violent sandstorms. No headbands were visible to indicate they were ninjas of one of the hidden villages in the Wind Country. But with the close proximity they were to their destination, they were likely to be Sand shinobi.

"Shinobi's from Konoha, turn back now," the cloaked person closest to Lee warned. "You will not be warned again."

Tsunade had warned there were groups who would do almost anything to stop the treaty between the Sound and Leaf from becoming a valid written agreement. Sakura remembered her mentor saying that there were those who believed that Konoha wanted the treaty so they could overpower the Sand and take control over the village and the remaining shinobi it had. Others still believed the treaty was being signed so that once Leaf Village had the complete trust of the Sand, they would use their relaxed state to plot a decisive strike and crush them – an act of revenge for Sand's betrayal almost three years earlier.

"We did not come all this way to turn back," she heard Lee say.

She, Tenten, and Neji had assumed their own fighting stances by that point. While Sakura had wanted to avoid conflict, she knew there would be no reasoning with this group.

She quickly counted nine visible enemies. Two against one odds weren't bad. Even if one of them had to take on a third person, the odds of success could still work in their favour.

"If you don't let us pass, you'll force us to attack – and we'll win," Neji said with confidence.

The man near Lee snickered. "Brats from Leaf are too soft. You haven't grown up with the harsh life of the desert. This will be too easy."

"Brats, eh?"

Sakura's eyes widened as seemingly out of nowhere a tenth person appeared behind the cloaked figure who had done all the talking. This person's cloak looked less worn than the others and the hood was pulled up, covering his entire face from sight.

The man turned around, clearly startled by this person breaking into their ambush undetected.

"Who are you?" He demanded.

"That's none of your business," was the deadpan response.

"Unless you want to suffer the same fate as them, I suggest you leave now," the man threatened, his confidence returning.

"My fate will never be the same as theirs."

"Well, if you want to play hero and try to save them, this should be fun."

In the blink of an eye, the cloaked figure had moved so that his hand was wrapped around the enemy's throat. He moved so fast, Neji had barely been able to keep with his movements with his Byakugan. Whoever this was, he was no normal shinobi.

The man's struggles were useless. The more he tried to break free, the tighter the hand holding his neck became.

The cloaked figure leaned in closer and said, "I don't want to save them. I want to kill you."

In an instant, he released his grip on the man's neck, only to replace it a second later with an index and middle finger. Sakura could hear the bones snapping before the man had a chance to slump to the ground.

The cloaked figure vanished, only to reappear in front of the next two Sand. He pulled out two kunai's hidden beneath his cloak and plunged them into their midsection's. By that time, the remaining six became more cautious. They waited to see the stranger's next move before attacking.

The hood covering the stranger's face had fallen back enough that Sakura could see two red glowing orbs where his eyes should have been. It made her heart stop and her breathing falter.

She didn't recognize the seal he performed with his hands – and it was done so quickly she wasn't sure if the others would know either. Then he became a blur of movement that it was impossible to tell what kind of Ninjutsu or Taijutsu he was performing. It seemed almost without effort that he was able to drop the ambushers uselessly to the sand, rendering them either unconscious or dead.

When none remained, he didn't stand around to admire the death and destruction he had caused. Without a word to the Leaf team, he turned and started walking away.

Sakura jumped forward. "Sasuke-kun!" She cried out.

No one on her team looked surprised by her outburst, for they had witnessed the Sharingan as well.

Sasuke paused briefly at hearing his name, before he began walking again, disappearing into the dunes that led in the direction of Hidden Sand Village.

Despite her resolve to stay focused on the mission and that she preferred him to stay gone – that Sasuke had never caused her anything but heartache – Sakura seemed to forget all that as she ran after him.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four 

"I want to express my deepest regrets for the unfortunate situation you encountered on your way to our village," said the Kazekage of the Hidden Sand.

Lee bit back the urge to say it was much more than an _unfortunate encounter_.

"Thank you, Kazekage," was Sakura's sincere reply. "Fortunately no one was hurt." _Except for the group that ambushed us_, she added silently.

"While I know you are here to escort me to Konoha, I'm afraid our trip will be delayed until the day after tomorrow," the Kazekage informed them. "My administrators are still analyzing the treaty to ensure it benefits of both our villages."

"Of course," Sakura replied with a short nod of her head. "Lady Hokage would expect no less from the Hidden Village of Sand."

Lee was amazed at the authority Sakura seemed to command. He had always seen her as a strong and capable woman, even when she was at her worst, but he had no idea she possessed these kind of diplomatic abilities.

"Since you will be our guests here for the next couple of days, I have had my aids prepare quarters for all of you. I'm sure you would like to rest after your journey. Weiss will show you to your rooms."

Sakura inclined her head respectfully before turning and following the others as a tall robed man led them out of the main chamber.

As the man, Weiss, took them back outside and down one of the few busy streets, Sakura had developed newfound respect for Tsunade's diplomatic abilities. How the woman was able to handle all the niceties that were necessary for these types of negotiations was beyond her. She was having enough trouble acting like a proud representative from Konoha. How come she got pegged as the diplomat? Neji would have been a much better choice. Being a member of the Hyuuga family he had probably attended his share of diplomatic negotiations.

"These are our visitor quarters," Weiss was saying as he directed them into another building. "The Sand have no need for luxury, so I hope they will be satisfactory."

He wasn't kidding about the lack of prestige. The Sand were far from a poor people, but being in the desert with the climate and other weather conditions they faced, all that mattered was keeping the sand and the cold out at night.

The walls looked to be made out of a dark concrete and were bear, just as most of the other structures they had seen.

Weiss took them up a set of stairs to the third floor and stopped outside the first door they came across. "You have each been assigned your own room for the duration of your stay. Kazekage has asked that I make myself available to you. Let me know if you require anything further."

He was gone a moment later, leaving them to inspect their rooms on their own.

When Sakura walked in hers, she immediately began inspecting every inch of the room. It wasn't that she expected the Sand to be eavesdropping on them but it would be nice to know just how much the Kazekage trusted them.

Kakashi and Gai had put them through extensive drills on how to look for and recognize listening devices. If all else failed, the best approach would be to turn on the hot water tap for the shower. If the steam didn't neutralize the listening devices, the sound of the water would likely block out anything being said.

Sakura did a thorough sweep of her room, finding one listening device underneath the leg of the night table and the other inside the single light source of the room. Once she had disposed of them there was a knock on her door.

Lee, Neji, and Tenten were standing out in the corridor. When she invited them in, Neji raised an eyebrow at her and she nodded her approval that it was safe to talk in there.

"You knew we would find Uchiha Sasuke here," he stated calmly, but his gaze at Sakura was accusing.

She had been hoping to avoid this conversation just a little longer, just long enough for her to figure out what had happened back out in the desert and where Sasuke had gone after he had disappeared. But she couldn't hide her separate orders from her teammates any longer.

"Tsunade told me there was a possibility that Sasuke might be in the Wind Country," she admitted to them. "It was where the last ANBU reports had identified seeing him, but they had never gotten close enough to confirm his identity before he disappeared." She paused to watch their expressions. Although Neji's was almost unreadable, she could tell he was angry at having this information kept from him. Lee and Tenten were staring at her in quiet shock.

She took a deep breath before explaining Tsunade's second mission to them. If Neji had looked distrustful before after knowing she had purposely kept Sasuke's presence from them, any trust left had vanished after she revealed Tsunade's words to him.

"Is this why Lady Hokage thought to tell you and not the rest of us?" Neji said to her. "She thought after all this time you would be the one to convince him to come back, even though you failed to stop him from leaving the first time?"

She flinched at his words. "Tsunade wanted us to bring him in before she was forced to send ANBU after him. She doesn't want him dead, but she needs to be certain that he hasn't shared anything with Orochimaru.

"Sakura-san, why did you not tell us any of this before?" Lee asked.

She couldn't give him an answer. Now she wished she had listened to Kakashi and told them.

"You were protecting yourself, when you should have been thinking of protecting Konoha," said Neji. "Obviously, Lady Hokage was wrong in thinking you would put aside your own feelings for the sake of the mission."

Casting Sakura one last contemptuous look, he walked out of the room.

"Neji, where are you going?" Tenten called after him.

Neji didn't bother responding – he just kept walking.

He stopped by his room to grab the protective sand cloak before leaving the inn altogether. He had no grudge against Sasuke, but there was a mission that needed to be completed. This time, he would not fail to bring Sasuke back.

* * *

Lee viewed the Village of Sand's below freezing night temperatures as his second challenge since arriving there. If he kept moving and stayed focused on the reason he was out there, he could forget about the cold. He reprimanded himself for allowing the consistently mild and predictable weather of Konoha to blind him to the harsh conditions that the Sand lived in.

While Lee was not working to keep his presence hidden, the person he was following had yet to acknowledge him. But Lee knew well enough that this person would have detected his presence long before then.

When Lee watched the person appear to stop in what was the village's main center, he paused as well on the ledge of the rooftop he was walking along.

"You clearly wanted me to notice your presence," Neji's voice carried up to him. "What do you want?"

Lee jumped off the roof to land silently beside him. At this time of night, the streets were deserted and the few lanterns that remained lit provided an only somewhat decent source of illumination.

"Judging from the way you left, I figured you would go after Sasuke-kun," Lee said.

"It is what we were ordered to do," Neji responded, "even if Sakura can't do it."

"She was worried we would react this way, but Sakura-san would not fail to carry out the mission Lady Hokage had given her."

Neji sighed. "Lee, you can't see Sakura's faults because you're in love with her." It was no secret the feelings Lee harboured for Sakura, but Neji typically avoided commenting on it. For Lee, it was a topic best left alone since the feelings were not returned. Neji felt sorry for his friend. He was so caught up in this one person he wouldn't allow himself to see anyone else.

Lee turned away from him. "You should not go after Sasuke-kun alone," he said in a low voice.

"If you want to help, that's fine," Neji told him. "If not, then don't interfere."

Lee nodded his agreement to Neji's terms. "How do you expect to find him?"

"We saw him heading towards the village before he disappeared. The probability that's he's here is extremely high. I don't know how much Sasuke has changed in the years he's been gone, but only a fool would venture out into the desert at night. No matter what Sasuke's abilities are he wouldn't risk it."

"Still characterizing people, Neji?" Said an unseen voice. "I guess some things never change."

Neji followed the sound of the voice to a darkened alley. He allowed himself the briefest of smiles before speaking. He knew if he and Lee stayed still longer enough Sasuke would find them. It wouldn't have surprised him if Sasuke had been tracking them all along.

"I suppose you would know all about change. First being one of Konoha's most promising ninjas, and then deserting to seek power at any cost."

"Don't talk like you understand anything about me," Sasuke warned, stepping out from the shadows of the alley. He was wearing the same cloak from before with the hood hiding his face from sight.

"I know that you are trapped by the destiny your brother carved for you. You've based your entire life around it, making everything else seem meaningless. The others may feel sorry for you, but I think you're pathetic. You let someone else choose the path your life will take, and because of that your life will never be your own."

"A Hyuuga lecturing about overcoming destiny?" Even if they couldn't see it, they could hear the smirk in his voice.

"Things have changed, Sasuke-kun," said Lee, using his speed to materialize behind him. "Lady Hokage has ordered us to bring you back. Though I would prefer you come back willingly, I don't think that's going to happen. So Neji and I are prepared to fight you."

"Is that so?"

The hood lifted up a bit and Lee was close enough to him now that he could see the marked presence of the curse seal across Sasuke's face.

Lee knew Neji would be ready to act, so he quit talking and attacked. Sasuke blocked his first set of punches with ease. Lee soon increased his speed and Sasuke was forced to take his moves more seriously. He back flipped out into the open space, his feet barely hitting the ground before Lee's assault on him continued.

"Your speed has greatly improved," Lee complimented as they fought. Sasuke was able to effectively dodge his onslaught of multiple attacks.

Sasuke managed to grab a hold of Lee's foot and toss him effortlessly against the barren wall. While Lee was down, he chanced a glance back at the Hyuuga, who looked strangely calm, as if he had no intentions of jumping into the battle. When he turned his attention back to Lee, the ninja was pulling himself to his feet and gradually unwrapping the white bandages that covered his lower forearms.

"Still using the same old tricks?" Said Sasuke, sounding bored.

Lee grinned. "Yes, but I've added another element to the Lotus while you've been gone."

When Lee charged at him again, Sasuke was prepared for the bandages that would try and bind his arms and body together. He found it annoying that the Leaf ninja's moves were so predictable. He didn't bother with his Sharingan. It would be a waste in an uneven match such as this. He increased his own speed to match Lee's and was able to catch one of the loose bandages. He began wrapping it around him, confining him within his own bandages. Sasuke backed up and called upon his Grand Fireball no Jutsu.

Even with thick brows speed, he would never get away in time. But when the flame touched the bandages and spread throughout the body, it disappeared into a white cloud of smoke.

_A clone? That's not possible. Thick brows can't use chakra!_ Before the rage at being so clearly fooled could settle in, Sasuke felt something tighten around his wrists and bound them to his sides.

"I told you I added another element," Lee's voice rang beside his ear. "It might not be my own, but it's useful."

Sasuke watched as this time the real bandages wrapped around his arms and mid section, mummifying his body. So Neji had time to conjure up a clone in that brief moment he turned his attention away from thick brows. He would have been impressed if he actually thought they could beat him with this.

Lee grabbed onto him and shot Sasuke into the air with him. After a moment they weren't alone anymore. Neji had shot up into the air as well.

"It's called the Byakugan -Lotus combo," Lee informed Sasuke.

He held on to Sasuke's arms, waiting for Neji to do his part before he could complete the Lotus.

"Byakugan!" Neji shouted, the veins around his eyes coming to the surface as he struck out at Sasuke with the index and middle finger of both his hands.

With his Byakugan he could clearly make out every chakra hole in the Uchiha's body. There also seemed to be a black-coloured chakra leaking out from the spot on the side of his neck where the curse seal was. With Lee's lotus in place he hit every chakra hole, no more than a split second between each attack before he would move on to the next area. After successfully hitting all sixty-four holes, he went after the mysterious chakra coming out of Sasuke's neck.

It was only then that Sasuke screamed out in pain. Neji then dropped do the ground a safe distance away, allowing Lee to finish the move.

When the dust had cleared, he could see Lee still standing and Sasuke flat on his back.

No matter how much Sasuke's powers had advanced, Neji knew that his Byakugan and Lee's lotus were unbeatable when used in combination together. But then he saw Sasuke's hand move – then his whole arm.

Lee's eyes widened at the impossibility of this, as did Neji's.

If Sasuke was able to come out of that and still move, Neji would show him no mercy this time. He would go at him with the intent to kill.

As Sasuke was hauling himself to his feet, a sandaled foot crushed itself against his chest, flattening him to the ground. Sasuke tried to push the leg off of him, but with his current strength it was useless.

"Stay down," the voice ordered him. When the voice spoke again, it was less stern, almost sad. "I told you to stop your quest for revenge." Then Kakashi put his hand over Sasuke's heart and the teen lost consciousness.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Sakura had never been this angry with Kakashi before, not even that time he had made her show up for training at four in the morning to prepare for the Chuunin exam the second time, and hadn't bothered to show up until almost nine – and had the nerve to say he'd overslept.

Kakashi supposed he deserved her anger. He had followed her team in secret, promising himself he would not appear unless the situation warranted it. He had been impressed by the way Neji and Lee had teamed up together, but Sasuke wasn't an ordinary shinobi. Kakashi had felt it right to end it there before things went too far.

Now, however, he was sort of wishing that he held off a bit longer. Lee and Neji seemed to have had the situation under control, but the feeling that Sasuke had once been his student and in some ways still was, had caused him to act.

"Does Tsunade know you're here?" Sakura demanded to know.

"Ah…well, she planned on sending me and Gai on a separate mission, but when I found out what she was asking of you, I asked to be removed from it."

"I see."

"Sakura, retrieving Sasuke is a Jounin level mission at the least and Tsunade knows that. Even the ANBU have had difficulties tracking his movements," Kakashi tried to reason with her.

"So what you're saying is you thought I would be incapable of handling this mission – that I would fail. You, being the caring sensei you are, thought you'd follow along to make sure I didn't screw up," she snapped, her voice shaking with hurt and anger. Hurt because even after the years of grueling training and proving her worth as a Chuunin, Kakashi still doubted her abilities.

"I deserved that," Kakashi said, letting his shoulders sag. "It's my own fault you would think I believe in you so little." He put his hands in the pockets of his Jounin uniform pants and looked her in the eye. "Sakura, I wish I could take credit for the person you've become, but I can't. I wasn't a good sensei. I spent so much time training Sasuke and worrying about Naruto that I didn't pay enough attention to you. I didn't encourage you the way a teacher should encourage their student. The time you've spent training under Tsunade has made me realize that. She's made more of an impression on you then I ever could have, especially these last few years because I've been away so much. I've never doubted your skills or who you are for a second." He looked away from her before saying, "I'm proud of you."

When she looked up after hearing those words, he had already vanished from the room.

* * *

It was after midnight when Sakura approached the guards who had been posted outside Sasuke's room. She had undressed for bed, but found she was unable to close her eyes long enough to even attempt sleep. That was when she decided put her Chuunin uniform back on and confront one of the reasons she was sleepless in the first place.

"The Uchiha's not allowed any visitors," one of the Sand shinobi guarding the room informed her.

Sakura was sure that order had come from Kakashi. "I'm not here to visit. I have orders to bring him back to Konoha. I want him to know he's coming with us." She shot both guards her most threatening look, something she had borrowed from Tsunade after having spent so much time with the Hokage. It was one of the few times that look didn't work and she was forced to resort to other measures.

Sakura closed her eyes and placed a hand on each of the guards chests. By that point, any reaction on their part was pointless. She had slowed their heartbeats enough that their bodies would be tricked into falling asleep – something she had learned from Tsunade.

Sakura didn't know how much time she would have before someone showed up to relieve the guards, so after a brief hesitating moment, she pushed open the door to the room.

It was dark inside, save for the moonlight that poured in through the drawn curtains. He was sitting slumped in a chair in the corner closest to the window.

After everything she had gone through to get in there, now she wasn't sure why she had wanted to see him in the first place.

"Are you just going to stand there?" His voice startled her.

She had no reason to be startled by his voice, he was the only other occupant of the room after all, but it felt strange to hear him speak to her after all this time. She remembered the last words he had spoken to her before leaving –_thank you_. At the time, she thought those words had meant he would stay, that everything she had said was enough for him – that _she _was enough for him. She had been a fool to think that.

"I can't go back with you to Konoha," he said after some time had passed. "I don't belong there now any more than I did before."

She wondered why he hadn't broken out of the room yet. "What have you done since you left?" She questioned.

"Nothing important," was his distant answer.

"It was so important for you to leave and yet you've done nothing except run away!" she cried.

"I told you I could never walk the same path as you or Naruto. It's your own fault if you can't accept that."

"Why do you cover your face like that?" She asked, walking further into the room.

When he didn't answer, she took it upon herself to find out. She kneeled down in front of him and reached for the hood. Her hand had moved no more than a centimeter when he grabbed her wrist. His head was lowered so she wouldn't see his face, and the grip on her wrist was painful. Instead of fighting it, she used her free hand to push the hood back.

She emitted a low gasp and he released his grip on her.

"It doesn't disappear anymore, does it?"

He stared back at her but wouldn't answer.

The curse seal covered his entire face. She wondered what he had involved himself in that it failed to recede when he wasn't using chakra.

"You let Orochimaru do that to you?"

"Sakura," he started, saying her name for the first time, "there are some things you can't understand."

"That's not an answer," she said back to him.

"If you want to believe I betrayed Konoha's secrets to Orochimaru, you're free to do so."

That wasn't much of an explanation, but Sasuke had never been big on words. Even when she had hated him for leaving, she never wanted to think he would so openly betray Leaf Village and everyone in it to fulfill his destiny as an avenger. After seeing how he had allowed the curse seal to spread throughout his body, she wasn't sure what to think anymore.

"I don't know what to believe because you won't tell me anything." Taking a different approach, she said, "why did you attack those Sand ninjas out in the desert?" A part of her thought their might be some hope left of getting the old Sasuke back if he had gone out there to rescue them.

"Because I was there," he replied simply.

Empty silence filled the room now. She should have known that after being gone for so long, nothing about him would change. He was still cold and distant, but unlike back then she knew there was nothing she could say, nothing she could offer to make him stay. She wasn't even sure she wanted him back in Konoha, but she swallowed her own feelings. Tsunade had given her orders and she intended to follow them, even if no one thought she was capable of it.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as she moved her hands towards the curse seal on his neck, but he made no move to stop her. She almost laughed at the irony of it. He was the one person who seemed to trust her.

She let her hand hover just above the mark, before closing her eyes and whispering, "I'm sorry."

She closed her palm over the curse seal…

* * *

Ten months earlier… 

Sakura sat in Tsunade's office, waiting for her daily training to begin. Since it was Friday, they would probably make their way to the Konoha hospital, where Tsunade would allow her to work on some of the less critically injured ones.

_"We won't be stopping by the hospital today," Tsunade informed her then._

_"Why not?" She said, disappointed. _

_"Because there's one other aspect of healing I have yet to show you."_

_Sakura's disappointment turned into curiousity now and Tsunade picked up on that._

_"Don't get too excited because this is something you will rarely ever use," the Hokage said to her. "Up until now, we have only focused on the physical aspect of healing – things that you can see – broken bones, open wounds, and torn muscles to name a few. Psychological healing is on a whole other level. It can be extremely dangerous and most shinobi who have ever been gifted at healing have been reluctant to teach it."_

_"Why?" Sakura asked, intrigued. "If it could save a person's life or rid them of any psychological damage, why wouldn't they use it?"_

"It involves invading the the neurons in the brain. One little mistake and you could cripple someone for life or cause other forms of permanent damage. Not to mention, this puts an enormous amount of strain on the medic nin performing it. It requires much more concentration than the healing that one normally does. There are only a few successfully recorded cases on record."

_"If you don't think I should ever use it, then why are you telling me about it?" Sakura asked the Hokage._

Tsunade lowered her head. "During times of war there have been shinobi who were emotionally traumatized but carried information vital to the side they were serving. Medic nin's would attempt to heal them in order to retrieve the information. So, you see there are important reasons for it to be used."

_"Have you ever performed this on anyone?"_

_Tsunade hesitated before answering. "Yes."_

_Sakura couldn't bring herself to ask if Tsunade's reluctant answer had anything to do with the fact that it didn't work._

_"There's also another side to this," Tsunade said a moment later. "While the sole purpose of our time together has been to train you as a medic nin, so that you may prevent loss of life on missions, you must also learn that healing can be your most powerful weapon."_

_Sakura's head snapped up at hearing this. Healing as a weapon? She didn't understand._

_"Sakura, your healing abilities have grown so rapidly I feel it is necessary to show you the other side of your gift. Because what we do requires us to have chakra control of the highest level, it makes it a deadly weapon as well. If you can control the chakra flow to repair broken blood vessels, you can also use it to make them explode or destroy internal organs. It can make the person feel terrible pain or even induce the brain to make the person relive the worst moments of their life – something a shinobi will have plenty of. If needed, it can be used to kill in an instant. As it requires you to touch the other person, it is only a close combat technique, and is therefore best used for undercover missions. _

"This is not something you can learn by testing your powers on an animal or a human. I would not permit that and I know you wouldn't do it. It is strictly for use in real life combat situations only.

_"As for the mental aspect of healing I explained to you earlier, psychological healing is difficult to control under the best of circumstances. It's not to be used on your friends or anyone else. I forbid you from using it unless it is the only choice left."_

* * *

Present…

Her mentor's warnings and trepidations rang loudly in her ears, but Sakura had already made her choice.

She didn't think the pain was going to be like this, but she didn't stop. The chakra leaked out from her open palm and in to Sasuke's body. Moments after Sasuke lost consciousness, she passed out as well.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six 

Tsunade stared down at the young woman lying in the hospital in front of her. When Tsunade saw her stirring, she wasn't sure whether to break into a grin or wear the glowering look she normally reserved for Jiraiya.

Sakura's eyes squinted open and eventually landed on Tsunade.

"Tsunade?" She blinked in confusion. "Where am I?"

"Konoha hospital. You've been unconscious for a week."

"A week?" Sakura cried and bolted up in bed. She instantly regretted doing so when the feeling of a kunai stabbing through her skull made her clutch the sides of her head in pain.

"I would have woken you up but I wasn't sure what kind of damage you had inflicted on yourself."

Sakura tried to avoid the reproachful gaze of her teacher without success.

"You recklessly endangered your own life," Tsunade reprimanded. "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking about completing the mission you gave me," she answered.

Tsunade decided to borrow the glower she saved for Jiraiya and use it on Sakura. "At the expense of your original mission? You were unconscious and therefore unable to escort the Kazekage to Konoha. You forced your teammates to divide their attention between looking after you and their assigned duty. You made yourself a burden for your team."

Sakura looked down at the covers on her bed. "I didn't think about that," she said in a low voice.

"There's still the matter of the technique you used on Sasuke."

Sakura wondered if there was any way the pain in her head would become unbearable enough that she would lose consciousness. Physical pain would be nothing compared to the punishment Tsunade would give her for what she had done.

"I don't know what possessed you to think you could close the curse seal Orochimaru put on his body, but it was beyond foolish. If Kakashi was unsuccessful at permanently sealing it, what makes you think you would be able to?" Tsunade sighed and her voice had softened somewhat when she spoke next. "Nevertheless, the curse seal seems to be dormant for the moment. I've examined Sasuke's body closely, and there's something different about his chakra flow."

"Different how?"

"I'm not sure yet. It's the chakra closest to the brain that seems to be affected. I won't know until I examine it further, which isn't possible at the moment."

Sakura looked at her expectantly for an answer. She didn't know why the Hokage was hesitating.

"Sasuke regained consciousness a few days ago. Once he did, I ordered him to be placed in ANBU custody. I want to believe that Sasuke has done nothing to jeopardize Konoha, but I cannot in good conscience as Hokage, let him roam free until he's been questioned. After that, I'm not quite sure what to do with him."

Sakura agreed that Tsunade had no other choice but to let the ANBU take him. But there was no telling how long he could be in ANBU custody.

"Once you're released from here and the doctors clear you for active duty, you'll be on guard duty for two weeks."

Sakura groaned. There was no worse job then patrolling the Hokage palace at night. It was an assignment generally reserved for inexperienced Chuunins or those ninja that were listed as being on 'light duty'. It was more of a ceremonial job then anything. Nothing ever happened. It was a slap in the face that Tsunade was assigning her such a menial task.

"Perhaps you would prefer I suspend you from active duty altogether," Tsunade said based on Sakura's response. "You disobeyed a direct order I gave you not to use your healing powers as a weapon except in combat situations," said Tsunade, growing angry once again. "Fortunately, the Sand's Kazekage is holding no grudge over your actions that rendered two of his shinobi unconscious."

Sakura didn't complain about her guard duties anymore. She knew she should be facing much steeper punishment for her actions. However, the fact that Tsunade looked severely disappointed in her was punishment enough.

"Oh, and I've arranged with Iruka-Sensei for you to act as a substitute for my medic nin class as the Academy," Tsunade added. I will find myself very busy with the Sand treaty so I thought it best to give them someone who won't have so many responsibilities for the next little while."

Though teaching at the Academy wouldn't be so bad, Sakura highly doubted Tsunade would be so tied up with the negotiations she couldn't take three hours out of her time two days a week to conduct medic-nin training.

"Now that we've sorted through that, perhaps a visitor might cheer you up," said Tsunade, moving towards the door.

Sakura wasn't so sure about that. After having been scolded by Tsunade and then being given temporary guard detail, there was little that could cheer her up – except for the tall, spiky, blonde-haired young man Tsunade brought into the room with her.

"Naruto!" She cried out in surprise.

He hugged her tightly and Sakura winced.

"Hey! Naruto, be careful," Tsunade scolded.

"Sorry, Sakura-chan," Naruto said, wearing a sheepish grin as he released her.

She took a good look at him, seeing how much he had grown in the more than two years they'd been apart. He was much taller now and his hair was longer. Despite how his facial features had matured, the stupid grin he wore on his face made him look like the boy that had once been the bane of her existence.

"When did you get back?" She asked him.

"Just yesterday. We would have been back sooner but Ero-Senin made us stop at a spa on the way," he said annoyed. "But I heard Sasuke is back," he said, quickly changing subjects. "No one would tell me anything more than that. They kept saying I didn't have clearance or whatever. Even Granny Tsunade wouldn't tell me a thing," he said, jabbing an angry finger at the Hokage.

Sakura had forgotten that he was still just a Genin. He had left with Jiraiya before getting another chance at the Chuunin exam.

Sakura looked at Tsunade and the older woman nodded, silently giving her permission to tell him. It would be the only way to get Naruto to stop badgering her for information. Tsunade had refrained from slugging him so far, but there was only so much she could take. It looked like his time spent with Jiraiya had done nothing to stop his over-excited nature.

"I need to check in with Shizune at my office," Tsunade said to the two teens. "Sakura, I'll have one of the doctors check on your later."

She wasn't done reprimanding the rosette haired young woman, but she understood better than most what is like to have the people you were close to go away. Naruto and Sakura had a lot of catching up to do.

"So… Sasuke finally came back?" Said Naruto, sitting on her bed when Tsunade had left.

"It's not like that," she said to him. She told him all up her mission to the Sand, including Tsunade's separate instructions to her beforehand and about running into Sasuke. She told him she had used a technique she had learned from Tsunade on Sasuke, but she didn't go into details. Naruto would probably react in much the same way Tsunade had – and she had enough lecturing for one day.

"What is ANBU going to do with him?" He asked curiously.

Sakura shrugged. "They'll want to know where he's been, who he's been in contact with. They'll want to know if his actions have placed Konoha in danger."

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan," Naruto said with a smile. "Sasuke may be an idiot but he's no traitor."

She gave him a small smile in return. "I believe that too, Naruto."

"I promise everything will be better now," he said, his expression resolute.

"_I will definitely bring back Sasuke! That's the promise of a lifetime!"_

Those words still rang clearly in her head. She had believed him then and even if it hadn't come true, she knew he had done everything possible to keep his promise. He would have to try just as hard this time.

* * *

Sakura ignored the knocking sound on her door. It was probably her mother, and if she didn't answer she just would assume she was asleep.

The knocking seized but the door to her room crept open.

"Sakura, I know you're not sleeping."

Sakura groaned and rolled onto her back. Her mother couldn't even follow the simple request that she didn't want to see anyone. "Go away, Ino."

Ino regarded the rosette haired girl lying on her bed. "You were released from the hospital two days ago and you're still sulking?"

"I'm not sulking!" Sakura exclaimed, sitting up.

Ino snorted. "Could have fooled me."

"What do you want?" The sooner she figured out what her friend wanted the sooner she could get rid of her and yes, the sooner she could get back to sulking.

Ino dropped down onto the bed, causing the other girl to glare. "Well, you know that it's customary for us to have lunch together whenever one of us comes back from a mission – and I know you were recovering and everything," she babbled on, "but you can't stay locked up in here forever."

_Want to bet on that?_ Sakura thought.

Ino didn't think she should bring up the mission to the Sand yet. If she was going to convince Sakura to leave the house, it was best not to mention that just yet. "Look, I'm meeting Shikamaru and Chouji, and you're coming even if I have to take control of your body and walk it down there myself," the blonde girl said stubbornly. "You should see if Naruto wants to come along. That guy would never turn down food."

Sakura realized she had no choice but to cave and agreed to go with Ino. But first she needed to make herself at least decently presentable. She changed into something that didn't look like she'd been lying around in it all day and threw her hair up into a quick bun she offer wore for early morning training sessions.

She left with Ino ten minutes later, her mother not saying a word as she walked out of the house.

* * *

Ino had been right about Naruto not turning down food – not like Sakura had any doubts to begin with. As soon as they stepped in the pub he left to take care of their orders.

While they grabbed a table off to the side, Sakura said to Ino after looking around, "I thought Shikamaru and Chouji were meeting us here?"

Ino sat down saying, "what a surprise, they're late. I don't even know how Shikamaru became a Jounin in the first place. Oh, wait I know," she said, pretending to think it over, "because Tsunade made him."

Sakura cracked her first real smile since Naruto had visited her in the hospital. She knew that despite Ino's words she had a great affection towards her teammate.

Ino glanced over her shoulder to where Naruto was placing their orders at the counter. "Naruto sure has gotten cute, don't you think?"

All Sakura could do was roll her eyes. "Don't you think there should be some shinobi in the village that you haven't dated?"

Ino went through boyfriends faster than Lee could run laps around the village. She had even dated Kiba for a short time. If Sasuke and Naruto hadn't left she would have dated them too. Well, that probably wasn't exactly true. Sasuke had never shown an interest in either one of them, and together she and Ino had made a pact to move on and forget about him. Their friendship had grown stronger because of it and Ino was happy to date anyone who caught her eye at that particular moment in time. For Sakura, at almost sixteen she was still waiting to have her first date.

"Oh, come on, I was kidding," said Ino with a laugh. "Besides I haven't dated everyone. There's Shino, Shikamaru, Lee," she said, ticking off the names on her fingers, "but Lee's too hung up on you to even notice anyone else. And there's Neji," she said, ending her short list. "I always thought he was wound a bit tight, but he's kind of gorgeous."

"Ino, you're hopeless," Sakura said with a shake of her head.

"You must have noticed, you train with him all the time and you're always going away on missions."

Sakura would admit – and only to herself – that there was a possibility Neji was good-looking but she was definitely not attracted to him. "We're teammates, that's all. I'm not sure if I could say the same about you and Shikamaru," Sakura said with a knowing look.

"Oh, please," Ino said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "What a lazy bum. He's too busy with that Sand shinobi anyways."

Sakura thought she detected a hint of jealousy in her friend's voice. "Who, Temari?" When Ino nodded, she said, "you think there might be something going on between them?"

Ino shrugged. "Tsunade's always pairing them together to plan out missions, but I doubt it's anything more than that. Temari always looks like she wants to kill Shikamaru when I see them together."

"Who wants to kill me?" Said Shikamaru slouching into a chair beside Ino.

"No one," Ino answered. "Took you long enough to get here," she scolded him.

"You only told us to meet you here for lunch, you didn't say what time."

"Where's the food?" Choji asked

"Naruto's getting it," Sakura told him.

Choji scoffed. "I'll make sure he's getting enough," he said and walked off.

"So how are you feeling, Sakura?" Shikamaru asked, earning himself a smack in the arm from Ino. He shot her a look. "What was that for?"

Ino sent a glare his way. She was trying to avoid talking about Sakura's mission, but Shikamaru in his insensitive and ignorant way had ruined that. But now that he had brought up the subject, it had given her the opening she had been looking for.

"You know, Sakura, it's not the first mission you've had go badly," Ino started off slowly. "You're also not the only ninja to ever screw up."

Sakura frowned. "You will get to the part where you're going to make me feel better at some point, right?

"The point is look at Shikamaru, he screwed up his first mission as a Chuunin leader. He almost got Chouji, Neji, Kiba and Naruto killed and he failed his mission to bring Sasuke back – "

"Hey, Ino, you really need to stop telling that story every time you're trying to make someone feel better," Shikamaru cut in, sounding embarrassed.

Ino ignored him. "Sakura, it wasn't a complete disaster. You brought Sasuke back."

Sakura had yet to tell anyone of the technique she had used on Sasuke to try and close the curse seal on his body.

"How long will ANBU hold him?" Ino asked Shikamaru.

"It depends," he began with a shrug. "If he tells him what they want to hear they may release him. If they're not satisfied with his answers they could hold him indefinitely."

That wasn't the answer Ino had been hoping for. That news wouldn't make Sakura feel any better. "He saved you from those Sand ninja, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but I don't think that was his intention."

"If they release him, that probably means he'll stay."

Sakura knew her friend was trying to cheer her up, but it wasn't working. "It doesn't matter anymore. I don't care about Sasuke."

Shikamaru shifted uncomfortably. _Geez… why do they have to have these girl talks when I'm around?_ He just hoped Chouji and Naruto would hurry up and come back with the food.

"Sakura," a new voice said.

The trio turned their heads to see Neji standing beside their table.

"Can I speak with you a moment?" The white-eyed young man asked looking only at Sakura.

Sakura nodded and stood up, though inner Sakura was screaming for her take what was left of her dignity and run out of there. She hadn't spoken to Neji since returning and she had a pretty good idea of what he was going to say to her.

"Sakura-chan, where are you going?" Naruto asked, bringing Chouji and their ordered food to the table.

"I just need to talk with Neji and I'll be back," she said to him.

Naruto gave both her and Neji a puzzled look, wanting to know what they had to talk about that couldn't be said in front of everyone else.

Neji led Sakura over to a more quiet area of the restaurant, which wasn't much better than where they had been since it was the lunch hour rush.

"Have you been cleared to return to duty?" Neji asked her.

"Y – yes," she stuttered, taken aback by his question. "Tsunade has me on guard duty though, starting tonight for the next two weeks."

Even without the aid of the Byakugan he could tell she was caught off guard by the question. She had obviously been expecting him to criticize her about her actions during the Sand mission. He would never believe that he was the right person to tell her the team wanted her back and one mishap wouldn't change their view of her. Tenten had thought otherwise, however, and had cornered him into the situation he was currently in.

"_Neji, she needs to hear from you that we're not holding a grudge or anything for her not telling us about Sasuke, and doing whatever it was that she did that knocked them both unconscious," Tenten said to him._

"_I think she would rather hear that from you or Lee," was Neji's curt reply._

"_That wouldn't work because Lee and I are already close to her. It's your opinion that matters to her right now. Lee, help me out here." She turned a pleading look on their friend sitting close by._

_Lee gave a quick nod of his head. "I agree with Tenten. Sakura-san needs someone that normally wouldn't side with her. It would make the gesture more meaningful." _

Neji had still disagreed to their plan. He didn't think Sakura would care one way or another what he thought. She never had in the past. More to the point, no one forced Hyuuga Neji to do anything – except Tenten. She was the only person who would dare do it and more times than not he couldn't refuse her anything. She was closer to him than anyone, but he didn't let that on. It was no one else's business to know his personal life.

He spoke again before the silence could stretch too long. "Tomorrow we'll be training at our usual spot in the morning."

"I'll be there," she said, the sound of a promise ringing in her voice.

She glanced at her table momentarily to see everyone eating and talking happily. She turned back to ask Neji if he wanted to join them, but he was already gone.

_Why does everyone keep doing that_? she thought in annoyance.

* * *

Guard duty turned out to be exactly what Sakura had been dreading. Her shift had just began and she was already anxious for it to end. It was the dead of night and herself along with twelve other Chuunins patrolled the Hokage building in their assigned areas. In times of war, Chuunins or Jounins would patrol in teams of two. In peace times, like they were now, the duty was more honourary than anything else. She wasn't likely to see much action this way, which frustrated her to no end. She had already been off for more than a week, how was she to make sure her skills and reflexes didn't go soft? Especially in instances like this when someone managed to sneak up on her. However, Sakura refrained from letting her surprise show and simply ignored that person altogether.

"Ah, Sakura, you're not still mad at me, are you?" Kakashi said, chuckling nervously.

"No," Sakura answered after a short pause and stopped walking.

Kakashi's eye crinkled in a smile. "That's good to know."

"Did Tsunade send you to see how I was enjoying my duty?"

"Actually, no," he replied. "I wanted to tell you that ANBU has recommended to Tsunade that Sasuke not be released."

"What's going to happen now?"

Her sensei shrugged. "Sasuke hasn't been doing anything to help his situation since he hasn't answered any of ANBU's questions regarding Orochimaru or what he's been up to all this time."

That news did not surprise Sakura in the slightest. She didn't expect Sasuke cooperate with ANBU, even if it meant they wouldn't release him. "Is that why we brought him back? So he could be interrogated and held indefinitely? How does that help Sasuke or Konoha?"

"Sakura, every mission has a purpose," Kakashi said her. He didn't want to raise any false hopes by saying there was still a chance for Sasuke to get back on the right path. That is, if he wasn't too far gone already.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven 

Since Naruto's return to Leaf Village almost two weeks earlier, Sakura had seen very little of the spiky haired blond. This was likely due to the fact that Tsunade occupied every waking moment of her life. Even when Sakura wasn't on guard duty or teaching Tsunade's classes, she was training with Lee, Neji, and Tenten. She was so worn out by the end of the day she didn't have any time to think about anything else.

But she wouldn't be able to go home and crash tonight, Ino had made sure of that. Ino had told her everyone was heading down to the pub to catch up. Since Ino had decided Sakura had been socially deprived lately, she was making her come out.

So that's where she was now, sharing a table with Ino, Lee, Naruto and Shikamaru and for the most part was enjoying herself. Damn, Ino for being so perceptive and seeing through her!

When Lee left to grab another drink, Ino leaned across the table and said, "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong with me," was Sakura's expected response.

Ino made a face. "Your lying skills disgrace shinobi everywhere. I thought once Naruto and Sasuke came back you'd be happy. But you're acting just like you did when they were gone," she said, lowering her voice enough so the boys wouldn't here her.

Since Sasuke was still in ANBU custody, Sakura didn't really consider him as being back in her life but that was beside the point. "Stop worrying about me, Ino. I'll be fine," she said, plastering a fake smile on her face.

Lee rejoined their table then and Sakura shot Ino a warning look to stop their current conversation, just as Lee threw an arm around her shoulders. She didn't need the both of them worrying over her, and she certainly wasn't going to be the one to ruin everyone's night.

* * *

Across the pub at his own table, Neji watched the group of friends sitting together with narrowed eyes. "How can they act like that?" He said in mild disgust when Lee put his arm around Sakura as they laughed at something Naruto had said. 

"They flirt all the time, it's not really a big deal," said Tenten, knowing where his gaze was directed. "It's never bothered you before, though."

"It doesn't bother me," he said coolly.

"Well, you've been staring at them for awhile," she observed.

Neji snapped his eyes over to Tenten. If it were anyone else, they would have shown signs of intimidation of the glare being directed at them. She matched his glare and they stayed like that until Neji broke the gaze first.

He wasn't even sure why he had allowed Tenten to coerce him into coming there in the first place. He tended to avoid any sort of large group outing, but the rest of his team had been going so he had got dragged along with them.

Not caring if he had made a suitable appearance or not, Neji decided to leave. Hiashi had offered to train with him at first light and he wanted to be well rested. He would not show any weakness in front of the leader of the Head Family.

"You're leaving?" Tenten said to as he stood up.

"Yes, I think I'm going to return home now," he stated.

Normally, Tenten would not let him off the hook that easily, but he was in no mood for any of their friendly quarrels. He really just wanted to be alone. He doubted that anyone would notice his absence anyway.

* * *

"I'm leaving," Sakura announced, pushing back from the table. 

Ino looked like she was about to protest, but Lee came to her rescue as always.

"I can walk you home, Sakura-chan, if you like," he offered.

She smiled and nodded, ignoring the look Ino was sending her.

"Come on, Sakura-chan, you can stay a bit longer," Naruto whined.

"I'm sorry, I have to be at the Academy first thing in the morning," she said with an apologetic smile. It might have been a lame excuse but Naruto bought it or at least decided getting her to stay wasn't going to happen.

She walked out with Lee, the cool night air rushing against her exposed arms and face. They started out in the direction of her house, Lee knowing the path quite well from walking her home so many times after training or missions, or on nights just like this.

The great thing about Lee was she never felt pressured to talk or strike up a conversation. They could train together for hours and not need to say a word. He was one of the few people she could feel completely at ease with.

"Your guard duty at the Hokage palace is over tomorrow, is it not?" Lee said to her.

"Finally," she said, more than a little exasperated. "But Tsunade would like me to continue teaching her medic-nin class at the Academy if I'm not away on missions," she went on. "I really don't know why. Tsunade has much more experience and knowledge then I have."

"Tsunade-sama believes in you. If she didn't think you were a capable medic she would not allow you to teach them. Sakura-san, everyone has their strengths, and yours is healing. Thanks to you, Tenten is also being instructed by Tsunade-sama."

"How do you do that?" Sakura said a moment later.

Lee blinked in confusion. "Do what?"

"Make me feel better than I really am."

Lee smiled at her. "You do that all on your own."

She felt something slip between her fingers – Lee's hand. This was definitely new territory for them. Sure, they flirted and goofed around, but this was a whole different level. She loved him, but even after all this time she wasn't sure if her feelings for him went beyond friendship. It felt nice though to be close to him.

When Sakura didn't yank her hand away or hit him, Lee felt a thrill go through him. He had told her once that he would wait for her, and he had held true to that promise. There would never be anyone else who could capture his heart the same way she had. But he would gladly settle for being just Sakura's friend if he had to.

"I guess a lot has changed since I've been gone," came Sasuke's voice from across the street.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura breathed. He was still supposed to be in ANBU custody. Or had they released him and no one bothered to tell her about it?

Lee felt Sakura's fingers slip away from his. For the first time in years he felt a surge of jealousy towards Uchiha Sasuke. "I see ANBU has finally released you," he remarked.

Instead of responding, Sasuke moved from across the street and was standing in front of them in a blink of an eye. Even with his high speed Taijutsu, Lee wasn't able to prevent him from grabbing Sakura's arm.

"You had no right to try out your freak medicine on me," he seethed.

Although Lee wasn't faster enough to prevent him from grabbing a hold of her, he aimed a blow at Sasuke's head, who was forced to relinquish his hold in order to avoid being hit.

Lee moved to stand protectively in front of Sakura. "Do not touch Sakura-san again," he warned, staring down Sasuke.

Sasuke smirked. "What will you do if I try?"

"I won't let you try," Lee said, his voice full of determination.

"Lee-san, let's go," Sakura urged. She had a bad feeling about the situation.

Lee ignored her request and charged at Sasuke. _I'm sorry, Gai-Sensei_, he apologized to his mentor and friend. Gai-Sensei had taught him better than to fight amongst fellow comrades, but he couldn't obey his teacher than. Sasuke was not deserving of that respect.

Before Lee's upper thrust could hit Sasuke, he vanished. Lee stopped in mid strike and focused all his strength into his left leg, anticipating correctly that the Uchiha would materialize behind him, thanks to watching his performance out in the desert.

His kick grazed Sasuke across the middle, but he was already moving back before it could do more damage. Lee spun around, watching as the Sharingan shone brightly in his opponent's eyes. After watching Sasuke's speed and seeing it had surpassed his own, he needed some leverage. Speed was the key to all his moves and he needed more. He reached down and removed the straps on his lower legs that kept the weights in place there. While the mountain of weights crashed through the pavement, Sasuke was already going in for the next attack.

Lee moved aside effortlessly. Now with his newfound speed was able to see how much slower Sasuke was. However, his eyes widened in alarm when he saw it had just been a decoy. Sasuke, the real one this time, was beside him. Lee cursed himself for being fooled by such a basic trick, but there was no way for him to react in time as Sasuke used his own spinning kick against him.

Lee hit the building wall at an incredible speed, the impact of it leaving him momentarily stunned. He could hear Sakura screaming something, and when he looked back he understood why. The visible chakra molding around Sasuke's hand was incredible – and could only mean one thing. The Chidori.

"Sasuke-kun, stop it!" Sakura shouted, but it was useless. Sasuke was already charging towards the fallen Lee. Panicking, Sakura didn't know what else to do except to somehow get to Lee first and stop the attack.

She started running and then had to turn and protect herself as a whirlwind of sand got spread in every direction. She squeezed her eyes shut, hearing the impact of the Chidori into something solid – and then nothing. She opened her eyes and the onslaught of sand was gone. She turned towards the fight to see Sasuke on the ground, holding his left arm, which was dripping with blood, and then to Lee who was just getting to his feet, while Gaara of the Sand stood in front of him as a protective shield.

She gaped at Gaara. She didn't even he was back in Konoha. She had thought with the Sand treaty almost signed, Tsunade would have released him from his duties by now.

In the past and even to this day, since so many of Konoha's residents were uneasy about Gaara's presence, some even to the point of resentful, Tsunade had made a point of not keeping him in the village too long between missions. Somehow during that time Gaara and Lee had forged something resembling a friendship. Or maybe she was giving Gaara too much credit. She didn't know if he understood what a friend was, but there was definitely an understanding between them. They made an odd pair, as Gaara was almost responsible for ending Lee's dream of being a shinobi, but that all seemed to be in the past.

"You have the same eyes as before, Uchiha," Gaara spoke, looking directly at Sasuke. "Why do you let that pain control you?"

Sasuke hauled himself to his feet. He didn't respond to Gaara. He started walking away. As he passed Sakura, his expression was unreadable but the murderous rage was no longer present in his eyes.

The scene of Naruto and Sasuke, willing to fight to the death at the Konoha hospital three years earlier was replaying itself in her head. Instead of Kakashi stopping it this time, it was Gaara.

She went over to make sure Lee was all right, but the venomous glare he shot her made her flinch. She had never seen that look in his eyes.

He started walking off in the opposite direction as Sasuke.

"Lee-san!" She called after him, but he did not turn or slow his pace.

"Do not go after him, Sakura," Gaara advised, as if reading her thoughts.

To anyone else that would have sounded like a warning or threat, but because she was close to Lee, she had got to know Gaara quite well – or at least as well as one could know Gaara. He was simply giving her advice. Advice that she didn't want to take, but still remained where she was.

A block away, with his Byakugan, Neji had seen the whole thing unfold.

* * *

Tenten cried out as her body hit the solid ground. She couldn't even catch her breath before the next attack came. She jumped to her feet and launched an assault with her massive array of weapons. 

Her opponent went into a near perfect three hundred and sixty degree defense spin, blocking her weapons harmlessly. Tenten almost let her guard down then and the results would have been deadly. When they normally sparred, Neji put up that kind of defense to deflect her weapons harmlessly to the ground. But she had known from the start, Neji was not looking to train – he had been looking for a battle. She had humoured him as best she could, but now with her weapons being propelled back to her, she wanted to know what the hell was wrong with him.

She managed to dodge all but a couple of shurikens that grazed her left shoulder.

"What's with you today?" She demanded.

"I don't know what you mean," he responded.

"I came here to spar. You came here to battle out your frustrations. You haven't fought like this in a long time," she said, removing her hand from a shoulder wound and seeing blood there.

"If you feel inadequate to handle my attacks, perhaps you should find a new partner," he said coolly.

"I think I can hold my own," said a new voice.

Tenten turned to see who it was, while Neji remained in the same pose, probably having sensed the person's approach.

"You don't want to fight him today, Sakura," Tenten warned her. "He seems to have forgotten what training means," she finished, throwing a glare at Neji.

"I'll be all right," Sakura said with more confidence than she felt. She hadn't been able to find Lee anywhere, so to avoid losing a morning of training had sought out Tenten and Neji.

"Listen, I have training with Tsunade-sama now," Tenten said, walking past her. "Be careful. He won't show you any mercy today."

With Tenten gone, Sakura suddenly wondered why she had been so eager to fight Neji. She had never beaten him before, and she was always the one who came out of their battles a little worse for wear. But unlike anyone else she trained with, Neji would never hold back, not even a little. While others might be disturbed by that fact, she knew she could always test how far her fighting skills had advanced when going against Neji.

"You saw what happened to Tenten. I will not hold back," Neji warned her.

"I'm not asking you to," she shot back.

"Foolish girl," he muttered. He took a step towards her, re-activating his Byakugan.

Sakura adjusted her posture to that of a fighting stance. She was much stronger in close combat situations now, which Neji preferred as a method of fighting. She didn't have Lee's speed, but by focusing her chakra where she needed it helped to propel her movements.

Tenten's warning had been dead on. Neji came at her relentlessly, not giving her the time she needed to form any seals. She managed to avoid or block his thrusts, but just barely. She couldn't remember him fighting this ruthlessly since their first time through the Chuunin exam where he had been matched up against Hinata. A terrible thought struck her then, causing her to pay careful attention to his fingertips. The chakra was visible around them and Neji read the fear in her eyes with his Byakugan.

"This will be over quickly," he promised her.

She recalled her training with Tsunade. If she could manage to somehow touch him, she could possibly slow down his blood flow enough that he wouldn't be able to use any chakra in one arm. So far, however, she had seen no opening for such an attack. She knew that Tsunade had told her to not use her medical training as a weapon against comrades, but it seemed to be the only way to even the playing field between them.

She continued to block his attacks, doing everything possible to keep those hands from so much as grazing the fabric on her Chuunin uniform. She watched his movement with careful eyes, waiting until he overcommitted himself to one of his thrusts. Only a careful observer would have noticed this and Sakura saw this as the opening she had been looking for.

She went for Neji's spread out arm, knowing that even if she didn't hit the right vein there was still a very good chance she could weaken his chakra flow in that arm.

She suddenly felt a white-hot pain against her ribs and her movement faltered. She looked down to find Neji's hand pressed against her ribcage. He removed his hand and then slammed it into the same spot sending her flying backwards. She landed as a sprawled heap on the ground.

Sakura was having trouble breathing and whenever she sucked in air a splintering pain shot up from her ribs. The pain made her feel like even more of a fool. She should have known better. Neji never left himself vulnerable, yet this time he had done it on purpose.

She managed to sit up, coughing up blood as she did so.

"You shouldn't move. You probably have broken ribs."

She ignored him and managed to crawl over to a nearby tree, resting her back on its trunk for support.

"I did not expect you to fall for such an obvious ploy," he said, standing over her.

"I didn't expect you to act like a bastard, so I guess we're both at fault," she said in the iciest tone she could muster.

Something in Neji's eyes flickered and for a moment she thought he might actually be remorseful. Then they want back to their normal cold white orbs and she felt even more foolish for thinking he might be regretting what he had done. Neji was incapable of showing remorse or guilt.

"Do you need me to bring you to Lady Hokage?"

"I'm perfectly capable of healing myself," she said stubbornly through gritted teeth. She had never healed her own broken bones before, so it might get interesting or be a complete disaster.

She felt around her ribcage wincing as she did so. She closed her eyes and concentrated, quickly finding two cracked ribs. Her chakra was half spent from the battle so she had to focus more than she would normally have to in order to heal herself.

She molded chakra on one of her hands and rested it against her injured ribs. With her eyes squeezed shut in concentration, she missed Neji's brows knit together in concern as he stayed with her while she healed herself.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight 

"I see you decided to stay in tonight," Kakashi commented as he walked into the holding room of the ANBU station.

The single occupant of the room said nothing.

"ANBU didn't even notice you were gone, so I don't see why you would come back here," Kakashi went on. "It can't be because of the accommodations."

"What do you want?"

This was the response Kakashi had been expecting from Sasuke. The young man was angry and with no one else in the room Sasuke was directing that anger at his old teacher.

"I want to know why choose to come back to this holding cell rather than leave Konoha."

Again, Sasuke said nothing.

"That's fine, you don't have to answer. I already know why," Kakashi said, and this time he had Sasuke's attention. "There's still some part of you – however small – that still wants this life. You could have broken out of here at any time, yet you've chosen to stay."

"I will leave," Sasuke stated.

"I'm sure you will. Though Sakura and Naruto seem to believe you'll stay, I don't have the heart to tell them otherwise."

"If you're trying to make me regret the decision I made three years ago, it's not going to work," Sasuke responded.

"I know that," said Kakashi, sounding like he was the one who was regretful. "It's just that it's never easy for a teacher to see his student fail, and by continuing to stay on the path you're on now, you will do nothing but keep failing."

"You don't know me – you never did," Sasuke said, growing angry.

"I don't need to know you in order to tell you that revenge will leave you empty. You've given up everything and yet somehow you think that's the key to killing Itachi, when all its down is made your existence miserable and lonely."

Irritated, Sasuke said, "are you done?"

"Just one more thing," Kakashi added, opening the cell door. "Betray Konoha and I wouldn't hesitate to kill you."

Kakashi stepped out into the barren corridor, the feeling of anger that should have accompanied those words was nowhere to be found. In fact, the only thing he felt was sadness and regret. Sasuke was his failure the same way Sakura was a success that he couldn't claim he'd had any part of. He supposed that spoke volumes about his abilities as a teacher.

* * *

Lee wiped away the sweat falling down his forehead and kept running. By his calculations, he still had another twenty-five out of his one hundred laps around Konoha to go. If he kept at his current pace he would likely be finished by nightfall.

He was running through one of the residential areas, when he saw her sitting on a bench, as if she had been waiting for him to show up.

Sakura smiled when she saw him. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

"I've been training," he said, giving no hint that he was tiring from running.

She frowned when she realized he was about to run past her. Something wasn't right. "Lee-san, what's wrong?"

"I still have twenty-five laps to do. I don't have time to talk."

Something was definitely wrong. Lee never acted like this. "If this is about what happened last night – "

"It doesn't matter anymore," he said, coming to a halt several meters in front of her. "I finally understand."

She was confused. "Understand what?"

He faced her, saying, "that to win your heart, it doesn't take kindness or friendship, or even love. He has to be cold and dark and cause you pain. Is that what it takes for you to fall in love with someone?"

Sakura could only stand there in a numb state, listening to the hurt and anguish in Lee's voice. When she could finally find her voice, she said shakily, "No, that's not true."

"It's been true since the day I met you," he said, looking anywhere but at her. "And it's still true now. Even after Sasuke-kun tried to hurt you, you still couldn't hate him, despite everything he put you through."

"I still care for him, yes. I can't help that, but my feelings aren't like that anymore. It's the truth."

"Is it also the truth you'll never want me the same way you wanted him?" He asked. When she hesitated, that was all the answer Lee needed. He turned his back on her and went to leave.

"Lee-san, wait!" She pleaded with him to stay.

"I now have fifty laps to run because I stopped here. Please let me finish them," he said in a strained voice without turning around.

When he ran off, Sakura went to go after him but clutched her side in pain. She cursed that her ribs still weren't fully healed from the incident with Neji the day before. She could only watch as Lee got farther and farther away from her.

* * *

Neji marched towards the Hokage's office, having been summoned there by one of her Chuunin messengers.

The door was open, so he walked right in. Lady Hokage was not inside, but Haruno Sakura was seated in one of the chairs in front of the massive desk. He took the seat farthest from her.

"Did Lady Hokage summon our whole team?" He asked her.

Sakura gave a shrug of her shoulders as a response.

He studied her carefully, looking for signs of her showing any ill effects from their sparring session the previous day. Visibly, she looked fine. He did not use his Byakugan to confirm that, however. That would have been far too obvious and unnecessary. If she was still injured she should have go to the hospital. It was not his job to take care of her. Though it left him unsettled that she had rattled him so much in the first place to cause that kind of behaviour in him. He was trying to ignore the strange sensation of guilt he felt for attacking her like that. What unnerved him the most was the guilt he felt towards her was different from what he had experienced afterwards with Tenten.

Fortunately, he was spared any impending awkwardness when the Hokage herself walked in, trailed by Lee and Tenten.

Neji found it interesting how Lee sat beside him and did not even glance at Sakura. He had been correct to assume there had been a reason behind Lee's sudden reluctance to train with them.

"Now that you're all here I can give you your new mission," said Tsunade, taking a seat behind her desk. "I apologize for the short notice but the other team we had assigned to this won't be back from their mission in the Earth County in time."

"So we're second best then?" Said Lee in a sullen voice.

"No, more like a second choice. It's an A rank undercover mission, which is why you weren't considered first. You guys don't really have any experience with covert operations."

"What's the mission?" Neji asked. He wasn't concerned with why they had not been selected first.

"The Snow Country will be holding its annual winter gala, where representatives from all the other countries and their hidden villages have been invited to attend. Each village is allowed to send up to three representatives. Tenten, since the first stage of your medic-nin exams are in four days, you won't be going with them. Neji, Lee, and Sakura, you will each be provided with passports and identification for your assigned aliases. Please memorize your assigned roles by tomorrow," she said, handing them each a paper with their respective aliases.

"Typically, the winter gala is to keep up the prestige of the Snow Country and offer feudal lords the chance to build trade and other alliances. Based on the reports we've received, some kind of a deal is going to take place between the Sound and the Snow. We're not exactly sure what the deal will consist of, but we have a feeling it will have something to do with medical research. As you know, the Snow Country is by far the leading nation in medicinal research and practice. Many of the most successful medic-nin in the last century have come from there.

"Your job will be to monitor the Sound ninja in attendance and to meet with one of our contacts that has been undercover in the Snow Country for some time now. He will give you the information he has collected and you will report back to Konoha with it. Remember, this is strictly an information gathering mission. Anything more and you risk exposing your true identity." Tsunade opened the first file on her desk and looked at Sakura. "Since there will also be a medical conference going on in the days before the gala, Sakura you will participate as a student who is studying at the university here in Konoha." She leafed through the next folder on her desk and turned to Neji. "As there will be many trade opportunities, Neji you will go in as the son of a wealthy family looking to increase their standing in Konoha. Your status as a Hyuuga means you will know all the protocol required of someone in your position." Tsunade opened the last file on her desk and turned to Lee. "It's customary for at least one of the representatives to be a shinobi. Typically it's a prodigy of the village or someone with a very unique skill. Lee you will be our Taijutsu specialist."

Tsunade folded her palms on the table and looked at the assembled teens. "You'll leave tomorrow morning. All your papers will be completed by then. To keep up appearances, you'll ride the train from the station on the outskirts of Konoha to the Snow Country. It's a three-day trip. Questions?"

"Is Orochimaru involved?" Sakura asked the Hokage.

"That's yet to be determined," Tsunade answered. "But if his own village, the Sound is involved, the chances are high. Remember, your purpose is to find out what the agreement between the Sound and Snow will be, and if possible, collect as much information as you can without exposing yourselves.

"Is there anything else?" Neji said, impatient to be out of there.

Tsunade shook her head. "Your train leaves at nine. Come by here before than to pick up your passports and identification. Shizune will make sure you have everything you need."

Tsunade dismissed them after that and the four teens filed out of the Hokage's office.

"I almost wish I didn't have my medic nin exam," Tenten was saying. "I've heard the Snow Country is beautiful this time of year. Sakura, you'll have to give me all the details when you come back." Gently tugging the other girl's arm to pull her back from the others, she said in a hushed voice, "do you know what's wrong with Lee? I haven't seen him act like this before."

Sakura opened her mouth and then quickly shut it again. She really didn't know how to explain what had happened with Lee, but judging by the look on Tenten's face she had already figured it out for herself.

Sakura was already starting to dread this mission as much as she had the Sand one. With Lee not speaking to her, it meant she would have no one else but Neji for companionship during the three-day journey. Maybe she could convince Tsunade to let her stay and help Tenten prepare for her medic-nin exam.

* * *

The train ride from Konoha was so uneventful, Sakura found it hard not to drift off to sleep. If there was one thing she had learned from Kakashi over the years it was to get sleep wherever you could, because you never knew when your next opportunity to rest might be.

Lee was restless and had left their compartment to wander the rest of the train, leaving Sakura alone with Neji. Since the two of them never had many words that needed to be exchanged, sleep seemed like the best alternative.

Sakura managed to drift into a deep sleep until a dull ache in her side forced her awake. Unconsciously, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and looked around. Lee was still gone and the cart was now bathed in the gloomy glare of the overcast sky.

She caught Neji staring at her and frowned. "What?"

"You're still injured," he remarked.

"It's nothing," she said dismissively. "I just moved the wrong way when I was sleeping."

"You should not conceal injuries from your teammates."

She had already been irritated enough from waking up and finding his scrutinizing glare on her, now she was getting close to losing her temper. "If you're worried I'm going to jeopardize the mission, don't. If I wasn't able to fully contribute I would tell you and Lee."

"Perhaps I was a bit over-enthusiastic during our sparring," he said to her.

She blinked. "A _bit_? I felt like you were trying to kill me."

"I did not mean to give you that impression."

"Then what did you mean?" She had known Neji was never one to go easy but that had been beyond over-kill what he had tried with her.

For Neji, this line of conversation was becoming increasingly uncomfortable, so he moved onto a new topic. The topic that had left him unsettled so much in the first place. "I saw what happened that night after you left the pub with Lee."

"You were spying on me?" She cried, both outraged and confused. Since when did Hyuuga Neji take an interest in anything she did? On missions, he only communicated with her as much as was necessary, preventing her from developing the same closeness with him as she had with Tenten and Lee. She had learned quickly though, that was the person Neji was. He was like that with everyone, except for maybe Tenten. She seemed to be the only one capable of bringing him out of the secluded shell he had made for himself.

"I was on my way home and heard the fight between Lee and Sasuke," he clarified. "Gaara showed up so there was no need for me to step in. It's also not difficult to see why Lee isn't speaking to you."

Sakura glared openly at him. How dare he try and say he knew Lee better than her!

"You're angry," Neji stated, amused.

"It seems odd that you think you can read other people so well when you cut yourself off from all emotions most of the time."

"Emotions can be unnecessary baggage when it comes to a shinobi's duty," he said to her. "But it does not mean I can't understand what's right in front of my face."

"Which is?"

"That Lee spent these last three years growing close to you, helping you get over Uchiha Sasuke and now suddenly he's back in your life."

"I've already told Lee I'm over Sasuke."

"Perhaps it would be more convincing if you weren't moping around so much. Uchiha is back but he still doesn't want you."

Sakura stood up, shaking with anger. "You arrogant bastard. Don't make assumptions about my life when you don't know anything about me. You're just a Hyuuga living a self-loathing existence because you know no matter what you do with your life your first duty will always be to the Head Family. You're nothing more than a tool."

She stormed out of the compartment, missing the look of barely restrained fury inside those white eyes.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine 

After three days of relative solitude aboard the train, Sakura was grateful to finally reach the Snow Country.

She had avoided her traveling companions as much as possible for the duration of the train ride. When Neji or Lee were in their compartment she stayed in their small sleeping quarters. When she was unable to avoid either one of them, she tried to think what was worse – having Neji's cold eyes trained on her or Lee avoiding her altogether.

Sakura shivered as she stepped on to the station platform flanked by her two teammates. Fortunately, Shizune had provided all of them with clothing and outerwear that would not only keep them warm but allow for easy movement. Gone were the sandals Sakura normally wore strapped to her feet. They had been replaced by fitted black boots that crunched in the snow with every step she took.

Without her peripheral vision, she could have sworn she was alone. It was typical of Neji to be silent, but Lee would normally get caught up in the excitement of the mission and would have to be told to shut up. But not this time. Now more than ever it hurt not having him talk to. Lee had made it tradition before they started off every mission, to whisper in her ear _I will protect you with my life, Sakura-san_. That wasn't going to happen this time.

Reservations had been made in their names at the Ice Palace, the most prominent guest accommodations the Snow Country had to offer. As there was no escort assigned to meet them at the train station, they made the trek to the hotel on foot.

Tsunade had given them each a map, which outlined the major landmarks and buildings, as well as the layout of the city, but they didn't dare pull it out. The last thing they wanted was to draw unnecessary attention to themselves before they had been there less than twenty minutes. Besides, it was unnecessary. Sakura had memorized the route from the train station to the hotel, and she was positive Lee and Neji had done the same.

Once at the doors to the Ice Palace, while Neji was pulling them open, Lee leaned over and whispered in Sakura's ear, "I will protect you with my life, Sakura-san."

She almost forgot she was supposed to be in character when she saw the faint smile on his face.

"Lee, I –"

"This isn't the place," he said gently. "We should talk later."

She gave a quick nod of her head and walked in through the open door he was holding for her.

When they caught up with Neji, he was already at the front reception asking for their rooms. The clerk skimmed through the reservation list before looking back up at the group and smiling apologetically.

"Is there a problem?" Neji asked with a raised eyebrow.

"As you know, many of the respected leaders from the various countries are here for the Snow Country winter gala. Most of them, book their reservations several months in advance. Unfortunately, Konoha was a list minute reservation. The only suite we have available has two rooms."

Neji, staying in character, frowned. "I see."

"Is this going to be a problem?" The desk clerk asked.

"No, no problem," said Lee, eagerly stepping in front of Neji. He grabbed their room keys from the clerk's outstretched hand.

They each grabbed their luggage and headed for the stairs that would take them to their room on the second floor. Lee used his key to unlock the suite. When the door was open, he let out a low whistle.

"Tsuande-sama should have told us what this place would be like," said Lee appreciatively.

"I can't remember the last time we had accommodations like this for a mission," Sakura said, taking in the sight of the grand room.

"That's because we haven't," said Neji, taking care to close the door behind them.

"I think the closet is bigger than my own bedroom back home," said Sakura, staring into one of the rooms.

"I'm comfortable sleeping out here," Neji told them. There was no point in arguing over who got a room, when he was perfectly fine with the couch. "Lee, Sakura, you take the bedrooms."

Sakura wandered into the kitchenette area, finding a note lying on the table there.

"My medical seminar isn't until tomorrow morning at ten," she said glancing over the itinerary they had been given.

"That will give us plenty of opportunity to watch the Sound between now and the Gala Ball," Neji said to them both. "Sakura, while you are at the seminar, Lee and I will find the contact Tsunade-sama instructed us to meet with."

Sakura was grateful Neji didn't want to begin things that night. She felt a bit out of sorts from the days of traveling on a train, but was positive a good night's sleep on a real bed would change that.

* * *

Much later when the others had retired for the night, Neji had found himself unable to fall asleep, as he had for many nights recently. Eventually he gave up on sleep altogether and brought himself into the meditation posture his father had taught him when he was a child.

He was aware of one of the bedroom doors sliding open and the faint patter of feet against the bare floor.

"Looking for something?" He said, his eyes still shut. He took satisfaction in hearing the hitch in her breathing, knowing he had quite effectively startled her.

"Just getting a glass of water," Sakura said as calmly as she could.

Neji remained in his meditative posture as she made her way to the kitchenette. Grabbing a cup and filling it up with tap water, Sakura decided to put her pride aside – for the sake of the mission.

"I was out of line on the train. I shouldn't have said those things to you," she apologized.

"Just as you do not want me to make assumptions about you, perhaps you should not assume you know everything about me," he said from his spot on the couch.

"I didn't know you followed meditation discipline," she said, coming around to where she could see his face.

Neji finally opened his eyes, an unreadable expression on his face. "I simply do it to clear my head, that is all."

Sakura wondered just what kinds of things Hyuuga Neji needed to clear from his mind. He wasn't the type of person to dwell on things unnecessarily.

"You sleep with your head wrappings on," she stated, noticing it for the first time.

Jaw clenched, Neji said, "my heritage is not something to be flaunted."

"It's not flaunting," she told him. "But I don't see why you feel the need to hide it from your friends."

Their eyes met and it was hard to tell who was more surprised – Sakura for blurting out that she thought of Neji as a friend, or Neji for being told she considered him a friend.

"It is a mark of shame and duty to the Head Family," he said, keeping his tone impassive. "It is not something I wish others to see."

"No one judges you by that mark, Neji," she said, heading back to her room and letting the door slide shut behind her.

That night Neji slept without his forehead wrappings on.

* * *

At precisely noon, Neji and Lee stepped into the gaming house Tsunade had instructed them to go to. With all the visitors in Snow Country the gaming house was packed, much more than it should have been in the middle of the day.

Neji did not like the unwelcome stares being sent in their direction because of their age. Fortunately, for the purpose of his alias Lee had donned a dark, nondescript brown jumpsuit instead of the green one he favoured to wear. If someone remembered them there, it would be much more difficult to recall a person if there was nothing unique about them.

Neji walked over to the bar and dropped several large bills onto it in front of the bartender. Lee kept an eye out from beside him for any signs of trouble.

"We want a private gaming room – one with a view," Neji spoke to the man.

"None of our rooms have windows," the bartender responded.

"I was told that they did. I know you won't disappoint us," Neji said and dropped another large bill onto the table.

The bartender scooped up the money into his fist and said, "there's one room you may like."

Tucking the money away into one of the many pockets in his apron, the bartender stepped out from the bar and began leading them towards a long, darkened hallway. He unlocked the last door without any markings on it.

"Everything you need is already inside," he told them and began walking back to the main area.

Before going in, Neji used his Byakugan to scan the room for any hidden traps or ambushes. There was nothing he could detect. The room was empty except for a sole occupant sitting at a table who Neji recognized instantly. He nodded at Lee, who pushed the door open.

"This room's taken," the voice growled, not looking up from his drink.

"We were told this room had the best view," Neji said, though clearly there were no windows or scenery of any kind.

The man looked up and ran a hand over the rough stubble under his chin. "What was Tsunade thinking sending anyone other than ANBU to complete such an important covert mission," said Genma.

Neji forced himself not to show anger at the other Jounin's words. "Lady Hokage had us retrieve vital information from the Hidden Rain village ninjas. We were told Asuma would be here as well. Is he still coming?"

Genma smirked. "Rain ninjas have nothing to do with our purpose here and you know Asuma's on a long term mission in the Lightning Country. Your suspicious nature makes you sound like an ANBU," Genma commented. "Of course if you hadn't done that, I probably would have reported you for trusting a source before being sure of their identity."

Genma was one of the cockiest shinobi Neji had come to know. He disliked having to deal with the man on any occasion.

"Who's the other person Tsunade sent with you?" Genma asked them.

"Haruno Sakura. She's attending the conference at the science academy," Lee answered.

"I see," Genma muttered, unimpressed.

"What information do you have for us?" Neji asked impatiently, unwilling to listen to Genma go on again about the inability of his team to handle such an important mission.

"I've been in the Snow Country for almost two months now," Genma began, slouching back in his chair. "I was sent here after the rumours started that the Sound were looking around for forbidden medical techniques."

"What kind of techniques?" Said Lee.

"The kind that involve mutating the cells of the body to achieve the ultimate fighting warrior. One that has the strength of ten ninjas and the inability to feel pain, making it fight until it dies. The Sound have probably reached the point where they've done all they can on their own. The next logical step would be for them to hook up with a country that has the strongest medical program available. With the ball tomorrow and all the top ranking officials of the Snow Country distracted, it would be the perfect time to cut a deal. When you're at the ball tomorrow night you need to find out what that is." Genma glanced down at his watch. "You've been in here long enough to have played a few games, you should go now."

They left without question, heading out into the main gaming room and then out onto the snowy streets. At least Genma's information had shed some light on their secretive mission. Neji hoped that Sakura's time at the science academy would prove to be just as useful.

* * *

When Tsunade had preached the mechanics of healing to her, Sakura had always listened eagerly, absorbing every piece of information that she could. She listened to the lecture she was sitting in on in very much the same way. She was learning things about the human body in one day that she had only briefly studied since becoming a medic nin. She understood now why Tsunade had been persistent in her petition to have one class at the Academy for those students that showed a talent for healing. That alone had been a fight to accomplish. Other instructions claimed the additional class would be too much for the younger students to handle. But Tsunade had pushed for it and had come up with a comprise. Initially, the class had been for Genin levels only, but the interest in it had grown so much Tsunade had divided them up to accommodate those on a Genin and Chuunin level, each receiving training twice a week.

When the current lecturer, a professor of biology at the academy, announced they would be wrapping up shortly, Sakura glanced at the clock, astonished to see they had already run almost an hour over.

Being in the last row of the auditorium, she was unaware anyone was behind her until she heard the quiet mutterings of a conversation. She turned around to tell whoever it was to be quiet or else she was going to let Inner Sakura loose on them, but there was no one there. There was just a door partly open. She was sure that door had been closed earlier. It looked almost like someone had wanted to come in, then changed had their mind at the last second without bothering to close it again.

Curious now, she raised her arms as if to stretch, making a show of dropping her pen near the open door. She quietly left her seat to retrieve it, straining her ears as she did so to pick up on any pieces of the conversation.

"This is not everything we agreed upon," a calm voice stated.

Sakura froze. She knew that voice. She looked around her but everyone was so engrossed in the lecture they paid her no attention. She moved closer to the open door. She could see another corridor outside and the shadow of two people standing close together.

"This is all I could get without drawing attention to myself. You will have the rest tomorrow night," said an anxious voice.

"Fortunately for you, I'm a patient person," said the voice Sakura recognized. "Unfortunately, my master isn't."

He stepped into more visible light, his appearance clear to her now – glasses and white hair pulled back into a ponytail. _Kabuto._ He walked away, pocketing a vial filled with a grayish liquid she didn't recognize.

The sudden sound of applause indicated the lecture was at last over. Sakura pushed her way through the crowds of people heading for the doors, desperate to get back to the hotel so she could tell Lee and Neji what she witnessed.

* * *

She entered their hotel room, finding Neji and Lee seated around the kitchen table.

"You're late," Neji stated.

"The seminar ran over," she responded, knowing the information she had to share was far more important than getting into another battle of words with him. "Kabuto was at the academy," she announced.

"Do you know why he was there?" Lee asked instantly.

She shook her head. "I overheard a conversation between him and what looked like another professor there. The professor gave him a vial filled with some kind of liquid. He told Kabuto he wouldn't be able to get more until tomorrow."

Neji turned serious eyes on her. "Did Kabuto see you?"

"No, I don't think so."

"This confirms what Genma told us," Lee said to Neji.

"Genma?" Sakura was confused.

Lee then launched into a quick explanation that Genma was the contact they were supposed to meet with and that he had provided them with what the Sound appeared to be after – forbidden medical techniques to build their own army with.

"The exchange will likely happen at the Gala tomorrow night," said Neji in a calm voice. "With so many people there it would be easier to make an exchange without arousing suspicion. If we knew the layout of the academy, it would be easier to plan a course of action."

Sakura grinned. "There were some floor plans outside one of the office's. I had to memorize it to figure out where I was going. I can map it out for you."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten 

For the tenth time since arriving at the Academy Gala, Lee fiddled with the collar on the shinobi dress uniform he was wearing.

"Lee, you have to stop doing that," Sakura said, stifling a giggle and grabbing his hand to stop him.

"I can't help it, it's uncomfortable," he complained. Not for the first time since leaving Konoha, Lee wished he were wearing his comfortable green jumpsuit.

Neji simply looked away from his teammates. It was clear those two had made up. The touching and the giggling were evidence of that. Scanning the crowd, he thought it wouldn't kill them to act more like shinobi than teens at their first dance. For Neji, public functions like this were second nature to him. There had been countless Head Family events he had been forced to participate in and this was no different – except now, instead of watching for signs of someone trying to assassinate a Head Family member, he was keeping an eye on the three Sound ninja at the other end of the room. As of yet, there was no sign of Kabuto.

It would have made things a lot easier if he could use his Byakugan, but that would not fit with his cover story.

His eyes narrowed when he saw one of the Sound shinobi leaving the hall. "Sakura, Lee," he said, grabbing their attention. "One of the Sound just left," he informed them.

"I guess I'll just have to see what he's up to," said Lee.

Neji frowned. This part of the plan he had disliked from the start, but there had been no other way around it. Lee was the fastest out of the three of them, making him the obvious choice follow any of the Sound that left the room.

"Be careful," Sakura warned.

"Remember to check in and let us know what's going on. If something goes wrong, back off, Lee," Neji instructed him.

While Lee quietly excused himself from the room, Sakura watched the remaining two Sound ninjas converse with a pair from Mist.

"We should dance," Neji said in a stiff voice beside her.

"Dance?" She echoed. Neji did not look like the person who could loosen up enough to dance.

"It will help us fit in and we can keep a better eye on what's going on if we're in the center of the room," he reasoned.

Still unsure, she followed him to the dance floor. Somewhat hesitantly, Neji placed one hand on her lower back and then led with the other. Sakura copied his movements. The both of them were trying not to stand too close together, but also not too far apart for it would look strange.

Sakura, who had had her doubts about this since stepping onto the dance floor, felt them slip away as she followed Neji's movements. After a time, it was she who was having trouble keeping up with him.

"You look surprised," Neji observed as they danced.

"It's just you don't look the type who dances."

"I don't. But it is _required_ at certain Hyuuga functions."

She thought she detected a hint of mortification is his tone. The thought of Neji being forced to dance with Hinata or anyone else was almost too much to bear without laughing.

"I see you're amused by this."

"Neji, you have to admit the idea of you waltzing around the Hyuuga mansion is kind of funny. Does Gai-Sensei know about this hidden talent of yours?" She teased.

Neji quickly rid himself of the urge to let out an uncharacteristic smile. He was so accustomed to controlling – and when need be suppressing his emotions – that he felt off balance at how easily Haruno Sakura could destroy all that work. She could be more annoying than Tenten and seemed to be at her happiest when she was infuriating him. But more than anything he understood the loneliness coursing through her veins for he had experienced the same thing. Neji would have sighed if she had not been right there in front of him. He was not an easy person to distract, which was why he found it so disturbing that she could do this to him. He was not one to be swayed by physical beauty either – more times than not he ignored it altogether, but it was rather difficult to ignore Sakura in the dress she was wearing.

"I've tracked the Sound ninja to the labs on the fifth floor," Lee's voice came through their earpieces clearly.

"Is there anyone else with him," Neji said, looking at Sakura so anyone nearby would think he was speaking to her.

"Not that I can see," Lee answered, his voice barely above a whisper now. "But if he's alone, some sort of exchange must be going to take place."

Sakura hated being there, leaving Lee alone to handle whatever was going to happen on the fifth floor. She wanted to ask him if he had seen the professor she had described to them yesterday, but the veins around Neji's eyes crinkled and she felt his grip on her lower back tighten.

"What is it?" She asked him.

"Kabuto," he hissed.

Sakura forget they were supposed to be dancing and let go of Neji. Kabuto was whispering something in the ear of one of the Sound, who was nodding as he did so. Kabuto then retreated to the nearest exit.

"We're leaving," Neji told her.

"Lee, we've spotted Kabuto," Sakura said, keeping her voice low. "Neji and I are pursuing him."

They strode purposefully towards the door, not wanting to lose sight of him. When they were out in the foyer, Neji gave up searching in such a basic way and activated his Byakugan. A moment later he had his answer.

"He's heading for the stairs," he told Sakura and ran towards their intended target.

Sakura was right behind him.

* * *

Sakura had tried several times to reach Lee through their secured line. All of those attempts were unsuccessful, but as they were in pursuit of Kabuto, she couldn't afford to waste too much time thinking about it. 

Neji suddenly halted and held out a hand for her to do the same. The academy was such a maze of corridors and rooms that even with what Sakura had remembered from the floor plan helped them out only marginally.

They were on the third floor now and even with his Byakugan Neji had seen no sign of Kabuto. His eyes widened suddenly when the air in front of him rippled. That was not natural at all.

"Sakura, get down!" Neji shouted as he activated the defense field around himself, blocking the onslaught of **shurikens** aimed at him.

"That Byakugan of yours seems to have some weaknesses after all," Kabuto observed, becoming fully visible now. "If I don't move, you can't see my cloaked form. How interesting."

"You're an S rank criminal," Neji spoke through clenched teeth. "We won't let you leave this place."

"You don't have a choice in that, Hyuuga Neji," said Kabuto.

Sensing the attack, Neji reactivated his absolute defense, only to look down at his left shoulder when he felt the searing pain of a kunai slicing through his skin. He didn't understand how Kabuto had discovered his blind spot so quickly. There was no way for him to know there was a very small area that he was unable to defend.

"I do not wish to kill you," Kabuto said, moving forward, "but you may leave me with no other choice."

Neji took extra care to block Kabuto's taijutsu attacks, knowing he was a medic nin on the same level as Tsunade. Kabuto was also careful not to underestimate the Jounin fighting against him.

Kabuto jumped back from their fighting area and formed a quick combination of seals with his hands. His cloaking field was in place again and Neji and Sakura could not see him.

Neji, seeing the intense ripple of air coming from his right side, activated his defense shield once again.

"I anticipated you would do this," Kabuto's voice rang near his ear. He materialized inside of the defense bubble. He placed one hand on Neji's shoulder and the other on his chest, a smile crossing his features. "This will hurt."

Chakra emitted from Kabuto's hands and invaded Neji's body. Neji muffled a gasp of agony, even though the pain was excruciating. He felt as though every muscle fiber in his body was being torn apart. It wasn't long before open wounds appeared on his arm and chest and blood came pouring out. Unable to break contact, he endured the blinding pain, biting his lip so hard to keep from screaming he tasted blood in his mouth.

He felt his arm being released, but the pain did not relent. He fell gasping to his knees. He saw a barrage of kunai fly by his face and feared Sakura would try to take on Kabuto. He would surely kill her if she did that.

Then someone was running past him in black pants and a long coat and he knew that wasn't Sakura. He tried to stand, but someone grabbed his good arm to keep him down. Sakura was staring him in the face, her features etched in worry.

"Try not to move, you've lost a lot of blood," she instructed him.

Neji wasn't listening. He couldn't let Kabuto escape. More than that, they needed to what this new technique was that he had developed. A shinobi who was able to render himself invisible would be one of the most deadly weapons ever created. He would have the stealth and power to take out an entire ANBU squad before any of them would be able to figure out what was going on.

"Listen to her, Neji," another voice said.

Genma was standing over them, watching as Sakura tried to slow the bleeding.

"Kabuto…" Neji breathed.

"I'll go after him," Genma said. "Sakura, get him out here," Genma ordered. When Neji began to protest, making it even harder for Sakura to work on him, he said, "I out rank you, which means you follow my orders. Get the hell out of here. I'll go after Kabuto and Lee."

Genma took off, clearly expecting the two teens to compile with his order. Sakura, knowing it was up to her to get Neji out of there, helped him to his feet. Once standing on shaky legs she led him out of there.

* * *

She managed to get Neji back to the hotel, frantically wondering if she should have stopped along the way to try and heal him. His breathing was shallow and his left arm and chest were still bleeding. 

She led him to her room and sat him down on the bed. It was the most logical choice as everything she needed was in there. First things first though, she needed to stop the bleeding.

Closing her eyes, she ran her hands over his arm and shoulder and then his chest to determine the extent of the damage. She couldn't stop a small gasp from escaping her throat when she saw the damaged tissue and muscle. This was beyond anything she had attempted to heal before. She shivered. This was the type of technique Tsunade had warned Sakura that her healing powers were capable of. Kabuto was a trained medic and had known exactly what he was doing. He hadn't wanted to kill Neji, just incapacitate him so he wouldn't be able to follow.

She took a deep breath. _You can do this_, she told herself.

"How bad?" Neji asked, his voice hoarse.

"I'm going to repair your broken blood vessels and tissue," she said, avoiding his question. "It's going to hurt," she warned him.

He nodded and gritted his teeth.

"I'm sorry," she whispered and let her hands hover just above his injured areas.

It wasn't something that could be rushed. There was a lot of damage and if she didn't take her time he might end up losing his arm altogether.

"Sakura!" Genma's voice called.

She didn't answer, needing to give her full attention to healing Neji. Genma would find her soon enough, and he did with Lee hot on his heels.

Lee paled at the sight of all the blood on Neji's upper body and now covering Sakura's dress as well.

"Look, Sakura maybe he should go to the hospital," Genma suggested.

"I can heal him," she said stubbornly.

"He's lost a lot of blood and you can't – "

"Genma, shut up and let me work," she snapped.

If he had been able to, Neji would have smirked at the look on the Jounin's face at being told off by Sakura. It was priceless.

Aware that Genma and Lee were still in the background, Sakura continued to work. She concentrated on repairing the blood vessels and damaged tissues that were causing the bleeding. When she was confident the bleeding had stopped, she set to work on healing the torn muscles.

Minutes ticked by and she was still only halfway through the process, but she stopped. The damage was too deep to repair all at once and despite the tough exterior Neji was emitting she knew there was not much more he could take.

She grabbed the bandages from the open bag on the bed and began wrapping his arm. "I can give you something for the pain," she said, keeping her voice low.

"I'm fine," he said through clenched teeth.

"No, you're not – "

"I don't need anything," he said more forcibly this time.

Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Why was he afraid of admitting he was in pain? There was no weakness in that.

"Sakura, we'll be outside," Genma said to her then.

Rather reluctantly, Lee left with him.

"Lee and Genma are gone now, so you can stop insisting that you're fine," she said to Neji. "I won't tell them that you took something for the pain.'

His refusal to answer was all she needed. She went into the bathroom and filled a cup with water. She passed it to him when she returned and handed him to small white capsules.

After he had swallowed the pills, she said, "I couldn't heal all of it now. There was a lot of damage. I'll try again in a few hours. You need to rest – that's an order."

She could tell he wasn't feeling like himself because he didn't protest as she propped a few pillows under his back and helped him lie down. She shut off the lights in the room and slid the door shut behind her.

She found Genma and Lee standing around in the living room area. Lee stopped his pacing and looked up when he saw her, his expression anxious.

"How is he?" Lee asked immediately.

She shrugged. "I've healed what I could. I didn't want to chance repairing all the damage at once. It's more complicated than anything I've handled. The most important thing is I stopped the bleeding."

"I think it's safe to say Orochimaru is behind what the Sound are doing," Genma said distastefully. "Not as if there was any doubt to begin with."

"What do we know now?" Sakura asked the Jounin.

"Sakura, are you sure you don't want to clean up first?" He said, taking in the sight of her blood stained dress and hands.

She forcefully shook her head. "I want to hear this."

Genma sighed, knowing there would be no way to break through her stubbornness. "Kabuto disappeared when I went after him, so I don't know if he got the rest of what he was looking for. The authorities have yet to find the professor you saw Kabuto with the other day. I think it's safe to he's dead."

"What about this new power Kabuto seems to have?" Said Sakura. She quickly explained what had happened during Neji's fight with Kabuto before Genma had showed up.

Genma frowned. "That probably explains why I couldn't find him afterwards. It looks like this might be much worse than a few mysterious stolen vials. It will be your job to head back to Leaf Village tomorrow and report all this to Tsunade."

"You're not coming with us?" Said Sakura.

"I still have some loose ends I need to tie up here," was Genma's cryptic response. "Do you think you can handle it from here?"

"We'll be fine," Lee assured him.

Genma was heading for the door when Sakura thought of something. "How did you know where to find us?"

Genma grinned. "I learned a long time ago how to tap into Konoha wireless transmissions. I guess I got lucky that you used it."

Then he walked out the door and was gone.

* * *

In the early hours of the morning, Sakura ventured into her room to check on Neji. He was sleeping and the last thing she wanted to do was to wake him, but she needed to continue healing his injuries 

She sat down on the edge of the bed, careful not to jostle his arm that she had put into a makeshift sling.

She caught herself when she had been about to push back a strand of hair that had fallen over his face. She swallowed. _What is this feeling?_ She had never had these kinds of emotions stirring inside her before and directed at Neji no less. What was wrong with her? Here she was with a person she found intolerable half the time – a feeling she was sure was reciprocated – and yet there was something else threatening to break to the surface.

Neji's eyes blinked open then and locked with hers.

"How are you feeling?" She asked him.

"A little pain, nothing more."

She wanted to berate him for lying. He had to be in tremendous pain now that the painkillers had worn off.

"I need to heal the rest of it now," she said, looking apologetic.

He nodded and with her assistance moved himself into a sitting position.

She set to work, just as before, looking only at his arm and chest as she healed them. She did not want to see the pain that she was causing him.

When she was finally finished, she said, "I've done everything I can, but you should let Tsunade exam you when we get back."

He looked down at his cut up shirt and then back up at Sakura.

"Sorry about your shirt. I was trying to stop the bleeding."

He tried to shrug the torn shirt off, but it didn't work – not to mention he only brought himself more pain.

"You are the most stubborn patient I've ever had," Sakura remarked, as she helped remove the torn shirt from his body. When she received a small but weak smile in return, she knew he was definitely not feeling like himself.

She moved his arm back into the sling and saw him wince visibly as the veins around his eyes became visible.

"Sorry," she apologized.

She stood up to leave, when her hand harmlessly brushed up against his and she felt something go through her. When her eyes met his, she knew she wasn't the only one to feel that. Embarrassed, they both turned away.

Sakura, not knowing what to say departed from the room, determined to forget about what had just happened and was sure Neji wanted the same thing.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 

When Kakashi asked Sakura to meet him for lunch at the Ramen place, she was more than a little surprised, not to mention suspicious. First of all, she had been back from the Snow Country almost a week and it was the first contact she had had with him. Secondly, she didn't mean to put her teacher down, but quite frankly he was _cheap_ and there he was offering to pay. That alone was enough to set off warning bells in her head. But the most bizarre of all was what she saw when she entered the Ramen place.

There, seated at the counter with his nose buried in a perverted book and an empty ramen bowl in front of him was Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei what are you doing here?" She asked, quite literally shocked that he was there first.

"Aside from catching up on some reading," he said, his eye never leaving the page, "I was waiting for you. You're late."

Inner Sakura exploded. _You show up on time once in the four years I've known you and you have the nerve to tell me I'm late? For all the hours you've kept me waiting I could have written a hundred of those perverted books you like so much!_

Beneath his mask, the corners of Kakashi's mouth twitched in a smile at her expression. "Don't worry, you still beat Naruto here," he said to her, closing his book.

Sakura turned around to see the spiky-haired blond stroll into the Ramen place.

"Hey, how come you didn't tell me Sakura-chan was going to be here?" Naruto wanted to know.

"I didn't? I must have forgotten about that," Kakashi said, his tone indicating it was an obvious lie.

Naruto, not seeming to offended by it, went and ordered a large bowl of pork ramen.

"I thought now that Sakura isn't away on any missions and that you've had some time to re-adjust to Konoha life," he added, looking at Naruto, "that it was time we discussed reforming Team 7."

"Finally!" Naruto exclaimed, launching a triumphant fist into the air. "I've been asking Granny Tsunade since I've been back to send me on a mission and she always scowls and says no."

Kakashi looked over at Sakura to gauge her reaction to the news but her face was expressionless. If Kakashi didn't know better he would say she was less than pleased by his announcement.

"I've talked this over with Tsunade," Kakashi went on as Naruto's order arrived, "and she agrees. Although we have recovered our numbers somewhat since Orochimaru's attack, we are still short ninja teams with skills above the Genin level. Sakura, I know you've worked closely with Gai's team but now that the option is open to create another three man team, you must understand why it's necessary," said Kakashi, his voice softening. "Tsunade tells me that Tenten's healing skills have improved significantly, and with her passing the first of her medical exams, having two medic-nins on one team is not practical."

"I understand, Kakashi-sensei."

It didn't escape Kakashi the reluctance in her voice when she spoke.

"So what's our first mission?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"I'll tell you that tomorrow when we meet at the bridge for nine o'clock."

"Do Lee, Tenten and Neji already know?" Sakura asked.

"I've talked with Gai, but I thought I'd leave the rest up to you," Kakashi said. "Well, I have to get going," he said, standing up. "I'll see you two tomorrow."

"Wait! You said you'd treat us to lunch," Naruto cried, already on his third bowl.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head. "I did? I must have forgotten about that."

He vanished in a cloud of white smoke, leaving a scowling Sakura to cover Naruto's meal.

* * *

One couldn't help but feel a little intimated by the towering Hyuuga mansion. At the same time it was an impressive site that took Sakura's breath away. All the time she had spent with Neji, he had never once mentioned the place, and Hinata never talked about her home either.

Still, Sakura felt more awkward than anything else when she banged the Hyuuga family crest knocker against the front door.

The knocking was answered promptly by a middle-aged woman who looked to be a servant.

She shot Sakura a skeptical look. "May I help you?"

"Is Hinata home?"

The woman slightly bowed her head and left Sakura standing there while she went in search of the younger Hyuuga.

A few minutes later Hinata appeared in the doorway, looking thoroughly surprised to see Sakura standing there. The shock faded quickly and she smiled at the other girl. "Would you like to come in?"

"No, that's okay. I just had something I wanted to ask you," Sakura said, feeling more uncomfortable by the second.

Hinata stepped outside and shut the front door behind her. "What is troubling you, Sakura-chan?"

Hinata blushed immediately and Sakura smiled despite herself. "It sounds like you and Naruto have been spending time together since he got back," she teased.

"We – I – perhaps…" Hinata trailed off embarrassedly, her index fingers pressed together.

Sakura decided to spare the other girl any more humiliation – she would save that for Naruto. All that time he spent sticking his nose into her love life she planned on giving it right back to him. "I'm here because I need to ask you something personal."

Hinata regarded her carefully for a moment before saying, "let's go to the garden. There's less chance of us being overheard there."

Surrounded by the lush foliage of exotic plants and flowers, made Sakura feel less exposed than when they had been out in the open for anyone to see them. Before she lost her nerve, she started talking. "I know there are secrets of the Hyuuga clan that you can't reveal to non-family members, but since some of your traits are common knowledge I figured you would be the best person to ask." The last part wasn't exactly true, but there was no way she could talk to the _other_ person about this."

"What is it you wish to know?"

"I know the Byakugan is primarily used for scouting or for sensing attacks, but is there maybe another use for it?" Now it was Sakura's turn to blush.

Hinata's brows knitted together. "What do you mean?"

Inner Sakura cursed. Hinata was going to make her say it out loud. "Can it be used to transmit feelings or emotions?"

"It is possible. When the Byakugan is activated, the chakra of the body is released. The more intense the feelings the more likely they will be transmitted with a simple touch. Sometimes this can happen unconsciously. It's normally an intimate thing shared between two people. Why do you ask? I was unaware you even knew – _oh_." Comprehension suddenly dawned on Hinata and she stared at Sakura. There was really only one person the pink-haired shinobi could have experienced _that_ with. "I had no idea you and Neji-nii-san were like that."

"No, we are most certainly _not_ like that," Sakura said instantly. "It was an accident. I don't think he even realized what he was doing."

If it were anyone else, they probably wouldn't have believed her, but the Hyuuga took her words as the truth. "You were just curious and wanted to know more about the powers of the Byakugan, correct?"

Sakura nodded. More than ever, she was grateful Hinata was not the type of person to tease excessively.

"There is a book that explains in detail the uses of the Byakugan," Hinata began in a shy voice.

Sakura blinked. "There's a book on it?"

Hinata nodded. "You could borrow it if you like. I doubt my father or anyone else would notice its absence."

Sakura felt her face grow redder as Hinata led her back to the house. She quickly reminded herself that it was out of curiousity only. She repeated that thought over and over as Hinata re-emerged from the house with a book tucked inside her jacket.

"It would probably be best if Neji-nii-san did not know you had this," she said handing the book over. "He's on the other side of the house right now, training with my father – "

"He's training?" Sakura cut in, all embarrassment forgotten. "He's supposed to be resting. Tsunade isn't reevaluating his condition for a few more days." She was going to give him hell later. She hadn't wasted all those hours making sure he didn't die of blood loss so he could carelessly die out of stupidity.

As she tucked the book inside her Chuunin jacket, Hinata said, "I will not speak of this conversation to anyone. Not even Naruto," she said with a shy smile.

Sakura left, feeling less humiliated than she thought she would at speaking to Hinata. At least there was one Hyuuga she could converse with without losing her temper or making a fool of herself.

* * *

Neji looked at himself in the mirror and grimaced. Though any external markings of the injury were gone, his muscles had yet to recover fully. After his sparring session with Hiashi, he could barely lift his arm up past his elbow. Tsunade had warned him of what would happen if he pushed himself too far too soon. She had even gone so far as to warn about the lasting damage using the Byakugan or Jyuuken fighting style would cause without allowing his chakra paths to fully heal. But Neji found it disagreeable to sit around and pretend to be weak. Perhaps, he had over done it with Hiashi though…

From the washroom he heard a knock sound from his door. He frowned. He rarely had visitors and no one from the main house tended to come to his door, except for Hiashi. But he knew Hiashi to be in a closed-door negotiation between Hyuuga and other prominent clan in Konoha. When the knocking persisted, he went to answer it.

Only years of learning to hide his true feelings allowed him to hide his surprise at seeing Haruno Sakura on his doorstep.

"What are you doing here?" He said, his voice coming out harsher than he had intended.

Sakura was not intimated. "I just thought I'd stop by and see if you were still in one piece after your training."

Neji's eyes widened and then narrowed. Sakura had been there in the hospital room when Tsunade had ordered him to refrain from any physical training until she reexamined him. Though he was curious as to how she had found out about his activities. Had she been spying on him? He quickly discarded that absurd thought. However, it was not her business what he did and he was certainly not going to lie about what he had been doing.

"Obviously, you've wasted your time coming here," he said coldly.

She matched his tone. "I don't think so. Show me your arm."

Neji refused, his eyes narrowing dangerously at her.

Sakura smirked. "I could always drop by and tell Tsunade about how you disobeyed a direct order to rest."

Inner Sakura whooped in triumph as Neji desisted, knowing the Hokage would pull him off active duty longer if need be. Ignoring his cold stare, she rolled up the sleeve on his arm. With her palms down she let her hands hover above his arm. Then she placed her palms over his chest and repeated the same examination.

Frowning, she looked up at him and said, "for someone who's supposed to be a genius you really are stupid."

"For someone who's supposed to be a medic-nin, you treat your patients horribly," he shot back.

"No, just you," she said smugly.

"Are you finished?" He said, with an air of impatience. He could feel the muscles inside his arm twitching and moving as she worked.

"Almost," she responded, serious again. "You strained some of the tissue that was newly healed." She didn't know how he was standing there without grimacing in pain. "How does it feel now?"

"Fine."

She sighed. She should have known better than to expect any sort of human response from him. He would probably die before admitting he was in pain.

He watched her as she worked. He could see how frustrated he had made her and again it made him wonder why she had been occupying his thoughts much more than he liked. She was over emotional and tended to say what was on her mind without holding back. She was by far the most annoying person he had ever met. It was amazing how they were able to get along long enough to complete a mission. He did not feel indebted to her because she had likely saved his life in the Snow Country, but he also could not deny the emotions she stirred within him when he allowed it. Damn it, what was wrong with him anyways?

She removed her hands from his arm and was speaking to him but he couldn't hear a single word she was saying. Ignoring the rational voice inside his head, he acted impulsively for one of the few times in his life. Before the reality of his actions could sink in, he pressed his lips against Sakura's. He could feel her resistance and surprise before responding to the kiss, her lips pressing back against his.

When Neji's rational side finally kicked in and he understood what was happening, he grabbed her arms and pushed her away. Of course she would be horrified by what he had done, Neji was sure of that. If anything, she had never tried to hide her dislike of him. It was confirmed when she ran out of there without looking back.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve 

"What's our first mission?" Naruto asked, his eyes gleaming with excitement. If Kakashi had been over an hour late it had better be something good. "Oh, I know, it will obviously be an A rank mission. No, maybe it's a B rank," he conceded, "just to test our skills. Well, which is it?" He demanded.

"Neither," Kakashi answered.

Naruto frowned. "You're not sending us on a C rank mission are you?"

Sakura frowned as well. She knew it had been a long time since the three of them had worked together, but she would feel degraded if they were given anything less than a B rank mission. Chuunin never got C or lower ranked missions.

"Nope, it's not a C rank," Kakashi told them.

Naruto scowled openly. There was only one option left. "A D rank mission? Come on, Kakashi-Sensei! What the hell is everyone going to say when they find out we're doing Genin level work!"

"You still are a Genin, Naruto," Kakashi was quick to remind him. "But no, it's not a D rank mission either."

Sakura and Naruto exchanged confused looks.

"What else is there?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi regarded the three of them and said, "training."

"Training?" Naruto scoffed. "I spent three years doing nothing but training and now you're telling me I have to do more?"

"This isn't just any training, its teamwork training," Kakashi clarified.

Naruto scratched the back of his head, still not understanding what he was getting at. "Huh? What for?"

"I thought Tsunade wanted another team in the field as soon as possible," said Sakura.

"While that's true, there's no point in sending out a team that isn't ready. By that I mean, having a team that functions almost as a single mind. There's no distrust or worry that a team member won't pull their share of the weight. It's been three years since you two have completed a mission together. Individually, you each have your own strengths. As you did when you first became Team 7, you need to find a way to fit together and function as a shinobi unit."

"How long will this training last?" Naruto dared to ask.

"As long as it needs to," Kakashi responded, his tone serious. "Today's lesson will be about communication," he told them. "I think the best way to do accomplish that is to return to the basics."

Naruto and Sakura watched as he pulled a shiny silver object on a string out of his pocket.

"You remember the bell test, right? Let's see if you can actually pass it this time," he said, dangling the bell in front of them.

Then he took off, and after a moment's hesitation Sakura and Naruto followed in pursuit.

* * *

With sore and aching muscles Sakura returned home after a day of training with Kakashi and Naruto.

"Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes, Sakura," her mother called to her from the kitchen.

Sakura managed a nod and trudged up the stairs.

Despite all the grueling training both Kakashi and Gai had put her through and the extra training she had done on the side with Lee, her body still managed to ache in new areas.

But she was proud of one thing. Before when she had been part of Team 7, she did not have the strength to compete, let alone keep up with Naruto and Sasuke. In their absence she had trained excessively to improve her stamina, an area she had always been severely weak in. While she was still nowhere near as strong as Naruto, she no longer tired easily and did not slow him down.

She was crossing the hall towards the bathroom so she could take a hot shower when she caught a flicker of movement in her room. All thoughts of relaxing in a hot shower vanished. Removing her kunai from its holster, she moved towards where the intruder was hiding. Poised to attack, she entered her room – only to stop dead in her tracks.

Sasuke was bent over her dresser staring at the photos she had in the frames there. He raised an eyebrow at the kunai in her hand.

"Sasuke-kun, what are you doing here?" What she really wanted to ask was what was he doing there, in her room of all places. More to the point, had he escaped ANBU custody again?

"What do you want?" She asked again when he said nothing.

"You've changed. You never had stamina like that when we trained with Kakashi.

"Yeah, well people change," she said sharply, trying not to be unnerved by the fact that he had been watching her train.

"I don't regret leaving," he said, looking at her. "You must understand by now that I had no other choice. If I had stayed, I would have been a danger to you and Naruto. You would no longer have been able to depend on me during missions."

"I think you're giving yourself too much credit," she said icily. "Why are you even still here?" He was silent, his eyes flickering towards something on her desk.

"The way I choose to live my life has nothing to do with you, Sakura. I have my path and you have yours. Sometimes I wish that mine could follow yours or Naruto's, but that's not possible. If you come after me again, you'll get hurt," he warned.

"I guess this means you're leaving," she said knowingly.

"I shouldn't have even stayed this long."

"Yes, you don't want to keep Orochimaru waiting."

"If something's on your mind just say it," Sasuke said to her.

There was one question that had been burning in her mind since that day he had left Leaf Village. "Did you betray Konoha to Orochimaru?"

"No, I didn't."

Even from Sasuke, she had been expecting more of an answer than that. Two years ago she would have trusted him without question, but he wasn't that same person anymore.

"Good-bye, Sakura," he said, and then leapt down to the ground from her balcony, leaving her alone.

The wind was blowing through her room, rustling the pages of the single book laying open on her desk. Sakura realized then what Sasuke had been looking at – the book Hinata had given her.

* * *

Tsunade strolled through the empty halls of the ninja academy. This late in the afternoon, most classes had already ended for the day. But the Hokage knew of one class in particular that was still in session.

She peered in through the partially open door of one of the classrooms, seeing about fifteen or so students listening with rapt attention to the instructor at the front of that room. Actually, she noticed all but one individual listening closely as Sakura explained the diagram on the board. Sakura glanced at the clock on the wall, and noting the time as well as Tsunade standing there, dismissed the class.

"Next week we'll begin work on amphibians. Please go through the chapter in your book so you'll understand what's going on," she heard Sakura say to the class.

Tsunade filed in past the students rushing to get out, most stopping long enough to bow their heads respectively at the Hokage, which Tsunade returned with a smile. She wasn't big on formalities.

"Checking up on me?"

She was smiling, but it was a fake cheerfulness Tsunade had learned to see through.

"Just thought I'd stop by and see how it's going. You let them out on time. No wonder they look so forlorn when I fill in while you're away on missions. I always keep them late."

"Healing is an intense subject. Sometimes I forget that and I lose some of them," she told Tsunade. "For the most part, the class is great."

"Any problem students?"

The way Tsunade said it told Sakura she already knew the answer. "Only one – Konohamaru."

Tsunade nodded her head, waiting for her to continue.

"But he's a natural with healing. His written tests are well below average but his practical skills are among the best in the class. I think he has a problem with being the only guy in the class. He thinks being a medic-nin is a woman's job."

"Ah, yes, I've had many conversations with him about that. While it's true that healing seems to be a trait that shows up much more often in females, there is nothing degrading about being a male medic-nin."

"So what are you going to do about him?"

"Actually, it's what are _you_ going to do," Tsunade corrected. "It's your class now. There is one person Konohamaru tends to listen to. I suggest you talk to him."

Sakura nodded in agreement and began to wipe off the chalkboard with the day's lesson on it.

"How's Team 7 these days?"

Sakura shrugged and continue to wipe off the board.

"I suppose you've already told your other teammates."

Sakura turned around to the sight of Tsunade sitting atop one of the desks with her legs swinging over the side. She remembered gaping at the Hokage the first time she had seen her acting so informal. Now, she was just accustomed to seeing her like this. "I think they already suspect. But I'm meeting them later, so I'll tell them then."

"It's important for Konoha to have another strong team," Tsunade said to her. "Kakashi is going to ask Naruto to take the Chuunin exam – not that he'll need any persuading," she said with a smile. "But as long as he remains a Genin, his choice of missions will be much smaller. No matter what his skill level, other countries and villages will not respond well to us sending low rank shinobi on top priority missions," Tsunade finished, standing up. "What's on your mind, Sakura?" She asked, seeing the troubled expression on the young woman's face.

"Since returning from the Snow Country, I've been thinking a lot about studying to be a medic-nin full time. Tsunade, please don't take this the wrong way. I know how much I've learned from you, how far I've come, but I still think there's still so much for me to know."

"I see," Tsunade said, her brows knitted together. "Was this brought on by my decision to reform Team 7?"

It was a fair question. "I just saw how in depth the study of healing was there, and here it's hard to get anyone to take it seriously. We have two classes a week and even that sometimes feels like a waste," she said frustrated. "They have missions and all their other training that healing becomes a low priority because their team will get on their case for not practicing useful jutsu's instead."

"Now you understand what I had to fight through to even get this much," Tsunade said, feeling Sakura's frustration. "Snow Country has the resources to devote an entire academy to healing because that is one of their most common inherited traits. Konoha may seem like a joke in comparison, but every idea needs time flourish and grow. You don't see it, but what we've accomplished in three years was more than I ever did as a shinobi in service to this village. All Genin and Chuunin level teams have at least one team member with a working knowledge of healing and medicine. Even ANBU is beginning to consider the option of having a medic-nin with each platoon. Sakura, forgoing your shinobi duties to pursue being a full time medic-nin is your decision – and one that I support. Just make sure it's the reason and not the excuse."

Even as Tsunade said those words, she knew they would have little effect on Sakura if she had already made up her mind.

* * *

When Neji entered the pub, he thought of at least a dozen other places he would rather be than the popular Leaf hangout. One of them was even the Hyuuga party he had just come from, which Hiashi had thrown to impress the merchants of the latest contract he signed for trading rights.

Tenten waved him over and masking his reluctance, Neji made for the table his teammates were seated at.

"I know you said you would be late," Tenten began, "but I thought it would be before closing."

"I had duties at a Hyuuga function. I could not leave before now," he explained. "Why are we meeting here?" He looked at Lee, who appeared to be sulking and even Tenten wasn't as energetic as usual.

"Kakashi is reforming Team 7," said Sakura, looking directly at him.

He had the distinct feeling she was waiting for some sort of reaction from him, but all he said was, "ah."

"How soon is this effective?" Lee asked her.

"Immediately. We've already started training. As soon as Kakashi decides we're ready he'll begin asking for missions."

"You must be excited to work side by side with the Uchiha again," Neji said, even though he was sure Sasuke was still in ANBU custody. He felt Tenten's foot kick him under the table. Her look was deadly.

"Actually, Sasuke is gone and he's not coming back." That was all the answer Sakura gave her former teammates and none of them seem inclined to press the subject – except for Neji. Sakura was sure the only thing stopping him was that he didn't care to get tangled in her personal life.

"It's not like we'll never get the chance to train together again," she said after a moment. "Besides, Tsunade's always mixing teams for various missions."

"Tenten is a knowledgeable medic. We'll be fine without you."

Sakura clenched her jaw, refusing to take the bait. However, Lee never passed up the opportunity to defend her honour.

"Sakura-san is a great medic-nin. Any team would be lucky to have her. You would be dead if it wasn't for her."

"You might want to consider joining Team 7, Lee. Then your dream of seeing Sakura every day can be fulfilled," Neji said coldly

"Neji!" Tenten admonished.

"I need to get back," Neji announced standing up. Ignoring the resentful glare Lee was sending his way he walked out of the pub without another word to any of them.

He didn't breathe easier until he was out in the open. At least he had been feeling calmer until _she_ showed up.

"I really am going to miss you acting like you're better than everyone else," said Sakura from the doorway of the pub. The statement wasn't true; Neji hadn't acted that way in a very long time. But he had effectively ruined what was supposed to be their last night together as a team and that made her angry.

"And I will miss your constant whining," he returned, keeping his back to her.

Sakura buried deep inside her the choice response she had in mind for him. Instead, she wanted to turn the focus to the scene that kept replaying over and over in her head since the other day. "I can't seem to figure you out," she said to him. "You can be kind but distant, and now you're acting the way Tenten told me you were when you first became a Genin."

He didn't know what kind of answer she was looking for. He had never been good at expressing words or feelings, just burying them.

"Neji."

He would never understand how something as innocent as her saying his name could affect him so.

"You kissed me," she said, her voice dropping in volume.

No longer could he avoid looking at her. He faced her, saying, "it was a mistake."

She should have been relieved and let it go at that. But for some strange reason it felt like a slap in the face to hear him say that. "It's a good thing Hinata gave me that book since I don't understand you at all."

Neji's eyes became dangerous slits. "What book?"

"It explains the Byakugan, and other uses it can have besides defensive –"

"You had no right to pry into the Hyuuga family history," Neji snapped. It was only his anger that kept his embarrassment from showing at what Sakura could have possibly found in her readings. "If you spent less time snooping around in matters that didn't concern you perhaps you would be a better shinobi."

"You know, if you weren't so emotionally repressed you would be able to express your feelings in other ways besides through the Byakugan," Sakura countered.

Neji took a dangerous step towards her, effectively closing the distance between them. "You do not know anything about me," he hissed, his voice shaking with barely restrained rage. "Do you think I enjoy having these feelings? He shouted at her. "I hate them and would give anything to stop feeling like this!"

Angry with himself for so easily giving in and letting his emotions run wild, he stormed off. As expected, Sakura didn't follow him. He would be a fool to think otherwise. Haruno Sakura would never fall for a cold bastard like him.


	13. Chapter 13

_Tikkall: Sasuke found the book on her desk by accident. He didn'tknow Sakura had it in her possession before then._

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

The following morning Sakura had made up her mind to go to the Hyuuga mansion – and it had nothing to do with Neji. As far as she was concerned, she'd be happy never speaking to him again. She supposed it was just as well that Kakashi had reformed Team 7 since it seemed highly unlikely that she and Neji would ever be able to function as teammates.

The reason she heading over to the Hyugga mansion was so she could return the book Hinata had leant her. Why Sakura had allowed herself to get so caught up in the Hyuuga family was beyond her. The angry words Lee had spoken to Sakura came back to her then. _To win your heart, it doesn't take kindness or friendship, or even love. He has to be cold and dark and cause you pain._ She had denied those allegations at the time but she realized now that Lee had been right. That's how it had been with Sasuke and now with Neji – though to a much lesser degree. Maybe it was time to take a page out of Ino's book and never date someone long enough to get attached to them.

As she approached the main house, Sakura didn't dare let her attention wander to the small house several yards away. She only planned to stay long enough to return the book, so with any luck she wouldn't even have to see _him_.

Instead of a servant coming to answer the door, it was Hinata. Sakura noticed the girl didn't look surprised to see her.

"I wanted to return this," Sakura said, without even bothering to say hello.

Hinata took the book from Sakura, saying, "you did not have to bring it back so quickly. If you want to borrow it longer – "

"Actually, I've had about all I can handle of the Hyuuga's," Sakura interrupted the shy girl.

"Neji-nii-san is not the easiest person to get along with."

Despite herself, Sakura felt a blush creeping into her cheeks. "I wasn't referring to him."

"Then you have had problems with other members of the Hyuuga family?"

Sakura cursed inwardly. This was all Naruto's fault. Hinata had never been this inquisitive before. "I don't really want to talk about it"

However, Naruto could never change her personality completely because Hinata backed off when she said that.

They said their goodbyes after that and Hinata went inside while Sakura started down the path leading away from the main house. If she had just returned the book and left as she had intended, she wouldn't have seen Neji leaving his house and starting on the same path that would lead him directly to her.

When they did meet up, Sakura thought Neji would walk straight past her but he didn't.

"Do you need something?" He asked, trying to sound disinterested as to why she would be on the Hyuuga Family grounds.

"I was just returning something to Hinata," she told him.

"I see," said Neji, his anger clouding his embarrassment. There was only one thing Sakura would be returning to his cousin.

Since there didn't seem to be anything else left to say, Neji started walking again. Sakura, against her better judgment stopped him.

"Are you just going to keep acting like this?"

"I'm not acting like anything," was Neji's stubborn response.

Sakura only just restrained herself from giving him the angered response he seemed to be looking for.

"You should go," said Neji, purposely keeping his back to her. "It would be best if you forgot about what happened between us."

"It was that horrible, was it?"

"Sakura – " Neji shook his head, not allowing himself to be goaded into saying what she wanted to hear. "Whatever you think you're feeling, it's nothing more than passing infatuation."

"You keep forgetting that you're the one who started all this," Sakura returned. "Believe me, I was more than happy when we were nothing more than teammates who only spoke to each other when it was necessary."

"Then why are you still here?" Neji demanded.

"I – I don't know," she admitted.

"Then I'll do us both a favour and leave," he said simply. Neji knew he should have just walked away and let it end there. That would have been the logical thing to do, but he seemed to lose all sense of rational thinking when she was around.

"If we are going to talk, I would prefer it not be in the open where anyone could walk by and overhear us," he said slowly. "We can go back to my living quarters if you like."

Sakura was completely taken aback by his sudden attitude change that she could only nod her head in response. Not sure what she was getting herself into, she let Neji lead the way back to where he lived.

* * *

The only other time Sakura had been inside Neji's home, she had been too busy berating him for his recklessness to pay much attention to the surroundings. This time, however, she had ample opportunity to take in the sparse furnishings and décor. She did that mostly to avoid the topic had that brought her there in the first place. Though she had been more than willing to talk about it earlier, she seemed to have lost her confidence. What annoyed her most of all was how unfazed Neji appeared concerning their current situation. For once, she was envious of how he was able to just turn off emotions.

Though they had spent the last hour sitting down at the small table Neji kept in the kitchen, little more than idle conversation had passed between them. Considering that Neji was the person least likely to make small talk made the situation all the more awkward for Sakura.

"Perhaps we're both wasting our time," Neji said to her.

Sakura glared at him. "If I'm keeping you from something important then maybe I should leave."

"I only meant that if you have nothing to say, you've realized this is a mistake as well."

"Maybe it's because I don't know what to say. You're not the easiest shinobi or human being for that matter to get along with."

"You mean because I'm not overemotional and irrational like you?"

Sakura frowned until she saw the barest trace of a smile appear on Neji's face. If Hyuuga Neji could make a joke there really was a first time for everything.

"If you think this is what you want just because Sasuke is gone – "

Sakura stood up, effectively startling Neji, causing him to halt in mid sentence. She was too angry, however, to take any satisfaction in that. "I am so sick of everyone bringing up Sasuke," she snapped. "My world may have revolved around him when I was twelve but I'm not that same person anymore. If you can't see that then you're right, I am just wasting my time."

At that moment she didn't care she was proving his theory right about being overemotional. Maybe she was even being a bit irrational by deciding to walk out of there but she didn't need Neji presuming her reasons for being there had anything to do with Sasuke.

Unfortunately, Neji had blocked her path before she had taken more than two steps. Unless she was willing to fight her way out, she was stuck there for the time being.

"I'm leaving," she clarified for him. "I thought that's what you wanted."

"I don't know what I want," he said in a low voice, catching Sakura off guard.

Sakura, feeling her confidence returning, acted on instinct. Standing so close to Neji, she brought her face closer to his. She could see the hesitation in his eyes, which disappeared the moment her lips connected with his. The kiss was different from before – probably because she had been the one to initiate it this time. It was Neji's turn to be the one caught off guard but that didn't last very long.

Neji had always prided himself on staying in control, but that control had started slipping away the moment Sakura's lips landed on his. He certainly wasn't going to be the one to stop the kiss this time.

He let his hands get lost in her hair. He captured her lips in a deep kiss, feeling Sakura thread her fingers through the back of his neck. Neji hungrily attacked her mouth, teasing and nipping at her lower lip. Sakura broke the kiss but that was only so she could graze her lips over Neji's jaw before ending up at his mouth again.

When they finally parted for air, their faces were flushed and both were breathing heavily. Now they seemed to be back in the same position as before with not knowing what to say to one another.

"I have to meet Tsunade at Konoha Hospital," Sakura said suddenly.

Neji cleared his throat. "I have to meet Lee and Tenten anyways."

Sakura cringed at the mention of Lee's name. How would she explain this to him? She didn't even know how to explain what was going on to herself. If whatever this was between her and Neji continued to develop Lee would get hurt – that she was sure off. He and Neji might be friends now but she knew that in many ways Lee still considered Neji to be his rival.

They didn't say goodbye as they parted ways and Sakura knew she would have to sort out her feelings before she saw him again.

* * *

Neji found it to be a waste of his time having the Konoha doctors check over his healed injuries. It was required that all shinobi seriously injured in the line of duty had to be checked out by a doctor periodically afterwards. Fortunately, the doctors didn't keep him for to long. They announced that he was in perfect health and that there seemed to be no lasting effects from the injuries he had suffered in the Snow Country – two things that Neji already knew without having to be told as such by a doctor.

When his examination was over, he was glad to get out of there. He tried to spend as little time at Konoha Hospital as possible, but being a shinobi that was not always an easy thing.

He was on his way out when he saw her. At first, Neji considered taking a different exit path out of the hospital to avoid her but when he saw the blood covering her shirt and hands he couldn't leave without seeing that she was all right.

Sakura seemed to be lost in thought because she didn't acknowledge his presence even when he was standing right in front of her.

"Sakura, are you all right?" He asked in concern.

Sakura finally seemed to notice he was there. She blinked in confusion. "Neji?"

"What happened to you?"

Sakura glanced down at her hands and shirt, saying in a low voice, "it's not my blood."

Neji cursed inwardly for allowing himself to get so worked up over Sakura's health without having all facts. At least he had managed to give the outward appearance of calmness.

"There was a group of Chuunins that had come back from a mission in the Hidden Mist Village," she started, still staring at her hands. "They were ambushed and the ones that didn't die in Mist Village died here in the hospital. There was nothing Tsunade or anyone else could do for them."

Neji took a seat on the hallway bench beside her. He didn't have anything remotely comforting to say to her, so he said nothing. He was sure that being a shinobi, Sakura was well accustomed to seeing death.

"Why are you here?" Sakura asked suddenly. "Did something happen?"

"It was just my required follow up examination for the injuries I sustained in Snow Country."

Sakura merely nodded and became distant once more. Neji wondered if this was the first time she had ever lost a patient. Once again he found himself feeling like the most inadequate person to comfort her. Not knowing what else to do, he slowly reached out and covered her hand with his own.

Sakura's response was instantaneous. She stiffened at his touch – not because she was repulsed by it but because she had never expected this kind of open affection from Neji. When she felt his hand start to pull away, she curled her fingers around his to stop him from doing just that.

The minutes began ticking by as they continued to sit there like that, without looking at each other.

* * *

Sakura used the hospital bathroom to clean herself up. Her hands and arms were easy but no amount of scrubbing was going to get the bloodstains off her shirt. Three years ago she would have gotten hysterical over that – that she couldn't show herself in public looking like she had just come from the battlefield. But times had changed – or rather she had changed – and the sight of blood didn't bother her so much anymore.

When she walked out of the bathroom, she was more than a little surprised to find Neji still sitting there. She had been in there long enough that she thought he would have left by now. Strangely enough she didn't find herself feeling embarrassed when she looked at him, even though she had spent the better part of the last hour holding his hand in silence.

"Listen, Neji, you didn't have to wait for me. I don't need you to watch over me," she said without thinking.

"Don't worry, I have better things to do with my time," he said briskly, getting to his feet.

Sakura sighed. Why did every conversation have to turn into a battle of words between them? "I'm sorry. I have a bad habit of saying things before I think. Look, I'm just as confused as you are and being here with you hasn't made things any less complicated."

"If it's so complicated you and I know the best way to fix that."

"Is that what you want? To take the easy way out?"

"I enjoyed things when they were simpler between us," Neji admitted.

So that was that. She had Neji's answer so there was no point in her sticking around so she could humiliate herself further.

"_This_ is all new to me," Neji started, his tone uncertain.

"It's all new to me too," Sakura informed him.

"Not in the same way that it is to me," he said to her. "I've spent most of my life trying to remove myself from any kind of emotional attachments. To suddenly change all that is not an easy thing to do."

"I'm not asking you to change who you are, Neji. You are who you are, and believe it or not I've gotten used to your emotional distance," she added with a smile.

"There will be consequences," said Neji, giving Sakura one last chance to change her mind, and maybe one last chance to convince himself that this was a mistake.

"I know," Sakura responded, knowing what he was getting at. "I'll talk to Lee."

"You make it sound like he'll understand but he won't."

"He may be upset in the beginning but our friendship is stronger than that," Sakura insisted.

"If you say so."

"You sound like you're looking for excuses for this not to work," Sakura remarked.

"Maybe it's just that I'm the only one of us that's being realistic," Neji returned.

"Maybe this would be a lot easier if I knew what you wanted. I get that you like to keep your emotions under wraps but help me out here –"

Neji might not be able to say the words but there were other ways he could express what he couldn't say out loud. He could feel her shock as she tensed up when he pressed his lips to hers. It wasn't filled with the same intensity and passion as before, but Sakura got the message loud and clearly.

As Neji pulled his lips away from hers, Sakura felt compelled to look at him. She thought to herself, _oh boy, what am I getting myself into?_

Neji cleared his throat. "I would rather we continue this in a private place."

Sakura wasn't sure if by _this_ he was referring to the kiss or to their conversation. But she supposed it didn't really matter since one seemed to inevitably lead to the other.

She had never been good at reading Neji and even at that moment Sakura couldn't figure out what was going on in his head. But when she felt Neji's fingers hesitantly intertwine with her own, she realized that at that particular moment it didn't matter.

With their polar opposite personalities, Sakura was starting to wonder if this would work out between them – or even if they would last long enough without killing each other. But they would never know unless they tried.

The End

* * *

_A/N: I know everyone was probably hoping for some magnificent happy ending where all the loose ends get tied up, but I've been watching a lot of anime recently and most shows when they end either don't wrap up the story or leave the audience with this huge cliffhanger. But that only means there's room for a sequel in the future… In the meantime, thank you all for your wonderful comments and reviews throughout this story! I loved reading each and every one of them._


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